2008 Woodie Awards
V for Vendetta: Easy Crowd Pleasers from the Anarchist Cookbook
By: Rebecca Porte
Issue date: 3/24/06 Section: The Arts
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My reaction to the recent film adaptation of V for Vendetta, and to most anarchist philosophies for that matter, can be summed up in one sentence: I was with you until the last 10 minutes. Based on Alan Moore's 1980's graphic novel of the same name, V for Vendetta is the story of a terrorist crusader named V (Hugo Weaving) who preys on the government of a totalitarian future Britain from behind a Guy Fawkes mask. Our window into V's world is Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), a young woman V saves from assault by government officials and later makes his apprentice. Having read the graphic novel, I can say that this movie is by far the best that has been adapted from Alan Moore's work. That doesn't mean it doesn't shoot itself in the foot, only that it does so with a little more grace than, say, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which managed the trick of shooting itself in the foot while simultaneously making me wish it had, instead, shot me in the face.
V begins with a history lesson on Guy Fawkes's failed attempt to blow up Parliament. It dispatches Fawkes at the end of a rope (Remember the fifth of November, children) and we segue into the future where V saves Evey Hammond from…well, Fingermen, as they're called. Draw your own conclusions.
Later, when Evey jeopardizes her life in V's cause, he spirits her away to his lair to protect her. The hideout, which is filled with the forbidden art V has salvaged from government censors, is a monument to the freedom of expression lost in the new regime. And though I too would probably take my Cat Power CDs with me if the bombs were falling, I sincerely hope that, when I step out of my fallout shelter and into the light, the first thing I see isn't a poster for Mildred Pierce. In hiding, we see Evey reach a rapport with V while learning some of what motivates his acts of violence. There, she reveals to him her vulnerability, a weakness that is the same as her society's. “I wish I wasn't afraid all the time,” she says. “But, I am.”
V begins with a history lesson on Guy Fawkes's failed attempt to blow up Parliament. It dispatches Fawkes at the end of a rope (Remember the fifth of November, children) and we segue into the future where V saves Evey Hammond from…well, Fingermen, as they're called. Draw your own conclusions.
Later, when Evey jeopardizes her life in V's cause, he spirits her away to his lair to protect her. The hideout, which is filled with the forbidden art V has salvaged from government censors, is a monument to the freedom of expression lost in the new regime. And though I too would probably take my Cat Power CDs with me if the bombs were falling, I sincerely hope that, when I step out of my fallout shelter and into the light, the first thing I see isn't a poster for Mildred Pierce. In hiding, we see Evey reach a rapport with V while learning some of what motivates his acts of violence. There, she reveals to him her vulnerability, a weakness that is the same as her society's. “I wish I wasn't afraid all the time,” she says. “But, I am.”
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