V for Vendetta is V for Very Good

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2006)

V for Vendetta V for Vendetta takes place in the near future (2020) in London, England. After disengaging itself from a "war America started," terror attacks  including an horrific biological attack that killed thousands  have resulted in a totalitarian government there. Using tools ranging from strictly enforced curfews to surveillance cameras, and from "disappearing" political activists to government-controlled news outlets, Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt) is firmly in control. That control is exercised, of course, for the security and good of England's citizens.
A man known only as V (Hugo Weaving) disagrees. His stance against the Chancellor's government is two-fold: he hates what the government has done to him personally, and he loves freedom. In a series of violent attacks he personally orchestrates, he sets out to prove his point to the largely oblivious population.
Through no real fault of her own, a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) meets the mysterious masked V in a dark alley where V saves her virtue from a trio of government-appointed citizen informers (aptly called "fingermen"). Employed by a government television station, Evey doesn't occupy a place of authority but is positioned quite well enough to know that the news anchors often must relay stories that they personally know to be untrue.
Evey's knowledge is only further cemented when the newscasters try to pretend that some explosions the night before were the result of a planned demolition. It's also more than enough to make her fear that a visit from the state police could be targeting her. In reality, however, it's not her the police are after. It's V himself.
V is at the television station this November 5 to claim responsibility for a bombing as well as to challenge the people of London to join him on the following November 5  Guy Fawkes' Day  to destroy Parliament itself. V only narrowly escapes the police who are there to arrest him, and again by accident, Evey gets involved.
Meanwhile, the ongoing machinations of the Chancellor and his minions serve to show just how far a tyrant will go to hold on to power. But when the anguish of Evey's friend, Deitrich (Stephen Fry) and a woman she'll never meet (Valerie, played by Natasha Wightman) offer a heart-rending counterpoint from the other side, Evey isn't the only one whose loyalties and motivations are conflicted!
Natalie Portman proved she can really act in her superlative turn in 2004's Closer. She stays at that level here. Hugo Weaving's face is never seen, but his voice alone is terrifying, poignant, and powerful by turns. The supporting cast is also very good, particularly Stephen Fry who offers up a wonderful rendering of a publicly resigned man who slowly lets his own disillusionment grow into some brave action of his own.
Though much touted as being a movie from the same men who brought us the brilliant Matrix series, in reality the Wachowski brothers are responsible for the screenplay alone (they're also credited as producers). Director James McTeigue is instead behind the cameras here, and he ably brings a complicated story to life.
The sets are spectacular and the effects even more so. But I maintain that it's the story itself that makes V for Vendetta as impressive as it is. I really enjoyed my movie-going experience simply from the standpoint of suspense and entertainment; but what really got to me was the view of the near future and its horrifying plausibility. Though I had a hard time divorcing the two points for myself, I can tell you that my friend's 17 year-old son and a buddy saw V for Vendetta this weekend as well, and neither has shut up about it since. They don't care anything about politics, and yet they both loved it. So did I.
POLITICAL NOTES: There is literally no moment of this film that doesn't have a political impact.
In the movie, political activists are watched and sometimes punished; in America today, we know that, at a minimum, many are surveilled. On screen, we see "for your safety" extolled by government officials; today, more than a few laws, including the freedom-stealing PATRIOT Act, are based on those very notions. In the film, "fingermen" are everywhere to report on their fellows; today, we've been encouraged to do the same, up to and including the infamous TIPS program.
There are many more parallels to name, and most of them are at least as awful as the few listed above. V for Vendetta takes place in the near future, and impossible to watch the movie, as enjoyable as it is, without wondering just how "near" that future really is. Perhaps an early warning can help us avoid the nasty fate  as well as the very violent ultimate release from that fate  depicted in the movie. And while V for Vendetta is certainly not a movie to be taken literally, there's some very real and legitimate early warning here that I personally believe should be heeded.
FAMILY SUITABILITY: V for Vendetta is rated R for "strong violence, (and) some language." This is not a movie suitable for young children either in its overall topic or its rendering. From its opening scenes of the execution of Guy Fawkes in 1605 to the penultimate (beautifully choreographed, I might add) fight, the blood and guts are fairly graphic. In addition, everything from Shakespeare to classic movies are quoted or somehow otherwise involved, and the politics is sometimes complicated in and of itself. This is not a film for the faint of heart or those unable to understand such vocabulary or ideals. But for the rest, whether they consider V a terrorist or a freedom fighter in the end, there's so much of thought-provoking value here that I'm inclined to consider V for Vendetta required viewing.