I am V

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2006)

As Julie London sings "Cry Me a River", we enter the abode of another lonely phantom of the opera. Is it the weatherless underground made real or is it a lie used to tell the truth...as art does? Is that Robert Donat's voice under that mask or is it the soundtrack from the movie version of "The Count of Monte Cristo"? Is that Winston Smith on the telly? Has Mr. Smith gone to Washington and become BIG BROTHER?
Ah no...this is London calling.
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Quoting from the movie:
Dominic: What do you think will happen?
Finch: What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people *with* guns.
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"Depends on how many unarmed people are standing up", says I. Then, there's the issue of authority, especially within an authoritarian State. What if the bosses have been *silenced* and the orders to fire fail to arrive?
The sax of Stan Getz whisps blue bosa nova notes from V's juke box. Evey is V's "Girl from ipanema".
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V: Violence can be used for good.
Evey Hammond: What are you talking about?
V: Justice.
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Plato wrote a lot of dialogues about justice--starring Socrates, of course. Justice is an ideal. V stands for vengeance. He's is one of the few survivors of a future day's Mengelesque research miracle. The monster wants to kill his Doctor, not to mention Frankenstein's Fuehrers.
But of course, this phantom needs a bride. As Evey transforms from the fashionably coiffed movie starlet look to that of a shaven Elsa Lanchester, she sheds more than her hair. She leaves her fear behind and with it her mental shackles.
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Interrogator: I am instructed to inform you that you have been convicted by special tribunal and that unless you are ready to offer your cooperation you are to be executed. Do you understand what I'm telling you?
Evey Hammond: Yes.
Interrogator: Are you ready to cooperate?
Evey Hammond: No.
Interrogator: Very well. Escort Ms. Hammond back to her cell. Arrange a detail of six men and take her out behind the chemical shed and shoot her.
Guard: It's time.
Evey Hammond: I'm ready.
Guard: Look all they want is one little piece of information, just give them something, anything.
Evey Hammond: Thank you, but I'd rather die behind the chemical sheds.
Guard: Then you have no fear any more. You're completely free.
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In FDR's First Inaugural he proclaimed, "Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself." Hegel hinted at this in his famous passage on "Lordship and Bondage". The Lord has the power we give to Her/Him. We give it because we fear the power of the Lord, but it is our power which we give away; our power to be free is fettered by fear.
I am Spartacus. I am V.
Now, you're ready to see "V for Vendetta". It is anti-fascist cinematic art at its best.