entertaining but problematic

Rating: 8/10 (4 April 2007)

V for Vendetta is certainly a fascinating movie. In a future England in which right wing fear mongers have taken over the country and subjugated its people (basically the world as people like George W. Bush would make it if they could) a masked vigilante fights to bring down the government.
At first the movie seems like an updated Zorro, and in some ways it is, following the formula of the noble hero battling for downtrodden people against enormous odds. But the tone is increasingly dark as the movie progresses, and the parallels with our current world situation make it sharp political commentary.
So I liked the movie, I enjoyed the movie, but I was also bothered by the movie. Because it really is not critical of V's actions; it's pretty much on V's side. That's true generally of those lawless hero stories like Robin Hood or Zorro, but what V does goes far beyond Robin Hood-style justice. Arguably those old swashbucklers had a very simplistic view of the world, but they were simple movies with fantasy villains that rarely attempted to draw any significant parallels to the real world.
There is an interesting moral question in this movie: is terrorism justified against an oppressive, dangerous government. But Vendetta doesn't really see the complexities of the issue. It's not interested in messy realities, yet it focuses too much on political realities (and political paranoia) to come across as a simple allegory. You can call it pro-terrorism or pro-revolution (they have often historically been the same thing). Revolution does not always lead to a better government, terrorism rarely leads to a better world, and violence is self perpetuating, so that fighting violence with violence simply condemns us to a continuous cycle of violence. And how often are the lines between good and evil so clearly drawn in the real world? Or perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps there are cases when a little terrorism would have been a great idea, say against Hitler, who of course is always a good example for pretty much anything. On the other hand, would terrorism against McCarthy have worked out well or made things worse? Do terrorist actions cause people to rise up or rally around their government? All good questions, but while watching the movie made me think about them, the movie itself isn't interested in any of that. They make no attempt to expose the underlying issues. People who are prone to think about the complexities of the world can watch the movie and start thinking about these things, but the movie doesn't encourage that at all.
Still, I enjoyed watching it, even if it is at best politically naive and at worst dangerous.