Remember, remember, the Fifth of November---
Those of you who have already seen the film will doubtless have some kind of reaction to these words. I suspect most of you will get chills.
V for Vendetta was quite a ride. I've learned to go into movies without very high expectations--but even if I'd had really high expectations, this one would have lived up to them. The Wachowski Brothers can really lay out a mind trip for their audience, sometimes...and this is one of them. In much the same way that The Matrix got me thinking about the question of Reality versus Perception of Reality, V got me thinking about the question of just how much of what the government says can be taken at face value.
I will admit to being very stricken with the tagline for the film--"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." As I've said in several earlier entries, government officials work for us; it should never be perceived as the other way around. So I already knew some of what they were going to say in the film would be material that I would agree with, on some level.
I knew it would be an action film. I mean, you kind of take it for granted, when a movie advertises itself with a scene of Parliament being blown up. And, after The Matrix, I knew the action would be entertaining in its own right (I mean, even with the Matrix sequels...well, the one I saw, at least...I enjoyed the action scenes even if I wasn't impressed--at all--with the story). What I didn't expect was a premise that was frighteningly plausible, a future where an ultra-conservative backlash had put what amounted to a totalitarian theocracy in power in England.
That wasn't the scary part, to me...the scary part was the details, the story of how this transition of power was maneuvered. It was like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream...or worst nightmare. The only part of it that really stretched my limits for plausibility was in the tale of the hero's origin...and that was pretty easy for me to sit back and swallow as a given for the story to work out.
There are, I'm sure, nit-pickers that would totally argue this point with me. That's their right. I was more enthralled with the story, and the almost sickening sense of 'yeah, we're already on the path for that to happen', than I was with trying to figure out how V would finance some of the stunts he pulled to stymie the authorities.
Anyone who blindly accepts that their government is always acting in their best interests should see this film...because it raises the point of how easily a government can exploit that attitude. Anyone who doesn't trust their government should see this film, because it inspires one to challenge the right of government to take control of peoples' lives, from their personal preferences in religion or sexuality to their choices of artistic expression. If you have a hard time swallowing comic-book plots, this might be a little difficult for you to sink yourself into; but it was never your 'standard fare' of comic books to begin with--it was written for a mature, sophisticated audience, something that was kept intact in its transition to film.
I also have to take a moment and applaud the performances of Natalie Portman and especially Hugo Weaving. Portman's character was our set of eyes into this world; her own shock and horror at what was happening around her set the stage. And Weaving...well, what can I say? In almost every scene, he was acting behind a literal mask. When he wasn't, he was playing a blind man in heavy shadows. I enjoyed him in The Matrix...he was chilling. I wasn't crazy about him in The Lord of the Rings...I thought his portrayal of Elrond was pretty flat and heavy-handed (but, in fairness to him, a lot of that was in the scripting...funny, how they decided to try and add layers to some characters, but took so much life out of others in their efforts to re-tell that story for a 21st-Century sensibility). This performance, in my eyes, outshone both, easily. Playing behind the grotesque mockery of a face that is a Guy-Fawkes mask, he managed to convey an incredibly subtle variety of emotions...without even eyes to bring life to the character. I'm in awe.
So, if you haven't seen it yet, catch this film. It's very intelligent, very thought-provoking, and scary on a level that no horror film will ever achieve. It also defines patriotism in terms that would make our current government officials blanch. And for all they've managed to do for us lately, I think they deserve it.
After all, it is, ultimately, a reminder that governments are only as strong as their people allow them to become. And that is a lesson I think our country should keep in mind.
Those of you who have already seen the film will doubtless have some kind of reaction to these words. I suspect most of you will get chills.
V for Vendetta was quite a ride. I've learned to go into movies without very high expectations--but even if I'd had really high expectations, this one would have lived up to them. The Wachowski Brothers can really lay out a mind trip for their audience, sometimes...and this is one of them. In much the same way that The Matrix got me thinking about the question of Reality versus Perception of Reality, V got me thinking about the question of just how much of what the government says can be taken at face value.
I will admit to being very stricken with the tagline for the film--"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." As I've said in several earlier entries, government officials work for us; it should never be perceived as the other way around. So I already knew some of what they were going to say in the film would be material that I would agree with, on some level.
I knew it would be an action film. I mean, you kind of take it for granted, when a movie advertises itself with a scene of Parliament being blown up. And, after The Matrix, I knew the action would be entertaining in its own right (I mean, even with the Matrix sequels...well, the one I saw, at least...I enjoyed the action scenes even if I wasn't impressed--at all--with the story). What I didn't expect was a premise that was frighteningly plausible, a future where an ultra-conservative backlash had put what amounted to a totalitarian theocracy in power in England.
That wasn't the scary part, to me...the scary part was the details, the story of how this transition of power was maneuvered. It was like a conspiracy theorist's wet dream...or worst nightmare. The only part of it that really stretched my limits for plausibility was in the tale of the hero's origin...and that was pretty easy for me to sit back and swallow as a given for the story to work out.
There are, I'm sure, nit-pickers that would totally argue this point with me. That's their right. I was more enthralled with the story, and the almost sickening sense of 'yeah, we're already on the path for that to happen', than I was with trying to figure out how V would finance some of the stunts he pulled to stymie the authorities.
Anyone who blindly accepts that their government is always acting in their best interests should see this film...because it raises the point of how easily a government can exploit that attitude. Anyone who doesn't trust their government should see this film, because it inspires one to challenge the right of government to take control of peoples' lives, from their personal preferences in religion or sexuality to their choices of artistic expression. If you have a hard time swallowing comic-book plots, this might be a little difficult for you to sink yourself into; but it was never your 'standard fare' of comic books to begin with--it was written for a mature, sophisticated audience, something that was kept intact in its transition to film.
I also have to take a moment and applaud the performances of Natalie Portman and especially Hugo Weaving. Portman's character was our set of eyes into this world; her own shock and horror at what was happening around her set the stage. And Weaving...well, what can I say? In almost every scene, he was acting behind a literal mask. When he wasn't, he was playing a blind man in heavy shadows. I enjoyed him in The Matrix...he was chilling. I wasn't crazy about him in The Lord of the Rings...I thought his portrayal of Elrond was pretty flat and heavy-handed (but, in fairness to him, a lot of that was in the scripting...funny, how they decided to try and add layers to some characters, but took so much life out of others in their efforts to re-tell that story for a 21st-Century sensibility). This performance, in my eyes, outshone both, easily. Playing behind the grotesque mockery of a face that is a Guy-Fawkes mask, he managed to convey an incredibly subtle variety of emotions...without even eyes to bring life to the character. I'm in awe.
So, if you haven't seen it yet, catch this film. It's very intelligent, very thought-provoking, and scary on a level that no horror film will ever achieve. It also defines patriotism in terms that would make our current government officials blanch. And for all they've managed to do for us lately, I think they deserve it.
After all, it is, ultimately, a reminder that governments are only as strong as their people allow them to become. And that is a lesson I think our country should keep in mind.
posted by Curtis at 12:10 AM
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