V for Vendetta

Rating

Director

James McTeigue

Screenplay

The Wachowski Brothers (Graphic Novel: Alan Moore)

Length

132 min.

Starring

Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea,Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rupert Graves, Roger Allam, BenMiles, Sinéad Cusack

MPAA Rating

R (for strong violence and some language)

Review

We face our fears daily. We fear dying in a car crash. We fear the death of a child. We fear that we will lose our jobs. We fear many things. The government that manipulates that fear can control the populace. V for Vendetta is the tale of one such government and the man who fights to empower the people.

After the fall of the United States in a cultural revolution, the religious elite in the United Kingdom use the public’s fear to take control of the government. One man, known simply as V (Hugo Weaving), has taken upon himself to reveal to the people the corruption and betrayal that has taken hold.

V’s first major act of defiance is preluded by a young woman out for a post-curfew stroll. Three potential rapists accost her in an alley. Though they dress and act like common thugs, they are the secret law enforcement of the streets. As they use their power in an attempt to take advantage of Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), V arrives to save her from their unwanted threats.

Heguides her to his lair where she watches as the Old Bailey, Britain’s judicial icon, is blown to pieces. It is Guy Fawkes Day. V has chosen the fifth of November in honor of Fawkes (for he even wears the mask) who attempted to blow up Parliament for perceived grievances against the state.

As all totalitarian governments are wont to do, they attempt to quash the story as a reconstruction project. V, however, is ahead of them and arranges a pirate broadcast to announce his complicity in the affair. He also announces that in one-years’ time another attack will be made and he asks for the people to stop being afraid of the government and make the government afraid of them.

While Portman is perfectly fine in the film, the rest of the cast bring their unquestionable talent to bear on the film. Stephen Rea yields his finest performance since The Crying Game as a cop investigating a string of murders that slowly reveal a government plot so unconscionable that it forces him to question his own loyalties. Stephen Fry, as Evey’s good friend and television celebrity Gordon Dietrich turned activist, is the perfect emotional counterpoint to the vindictive V.

However, V for Vendetta would not be the film that it is without the immeasurable talents of Hugo Weaving. Adding this to his impressive array of memorable characters (in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Matrix trilogy), Weaving handily conveys a wide range of emotions without anyone being able to see his face.

V for Vendetta isn’t your typical explosion-and-violence film. It bears some similarities to The Matrix , partially because The Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry) also adapted this David Lloyd graphic novel to the screen.

James McTeigue, who started out as a second assistant director on Street Fighter and Dark City and graduated to first A.D. on all three Matrix films takes the helm for the first time. His skill at atmosphere is unquestionable as V for Vendetta is perfectly dark and gloomy.

Atmosphere and performance aside, it’s the story that really hits home. It is a stirring political allegory. It nearly perfectly parallels the rise of the religious right in the United States and the simultaneous rise to power of a government that rules through fear and gets its way by manipulating the good will of the people.

It is absolutely the perfect time for a film like this to release. Public opinion has been slowly shifting as the truth has begun to emerge. Film history is filled with films that fit the times. The most apropos of these is Citizen Kane. Though the film doesn’t even address the monopolization of the newspaper business, its loose biographical tie to newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst gave Hearst fuel and he used his influence to bring about its failure. While V for Vendetta doesn’t have the revolutionary filmmaking style and emotional weight of Citizen Kane , it is modern Hollywood’s closest approximation. It simply feels right.

Review Written

May 18, 2006