An Interesting Dystopia

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2008)

Like most dystopias this is set a little while into the future and takes the worst excesses of today to a totalitarian extreme. Here Britain is governed by High Chancellor Sutler, played by the excellent John Hurt. We learn that he came to power after a terrorist outrage that left tens of thousands of people dead. Once elected he had set about building a police state where undesirables were eliminated.
The main character of the film is Evey (Natalie Portman with a slightly dodgy accent), a girl who is rescued from the police by a masked man known only as V, played by Hugo Weaving who performs well in a role where we never see his face as it is always covered by hid Guy Falkes mask.
Shortly after rescuing her he takes her to a rooftop to watch as he detonates explosives that he has planted under the Old Bailey. He then announces that that in one years time, on the fifth of November he will blow up the now disused Houses of Parliament. He also sets about killing a group of people who have wronged him in the past. Inspector Finch, an honest policeman played well by Stephen Rea is tasked with bringing V to justice. The more he learns about V's victims and their connection to the government the more disturbed be becomes.
Many viewers seem to consider this a left wing film that is attacking right wing values by taking them to an extreme; I never thought that though, to me it is a film about the evil of tyranny which would have worked in exactly the same way had the government been Stalinist.
The acting is good throughout, the secondary characters were also impressive, especially Stephen Fry who played a television presenter who sheltered Evey at one point, in many ways his character is the non-violent equivalent of V, they even cook the same thing for breakfast.