"V" For Very Thought Provoking

"Right is laid aside, either by simply renouncing it, or by tranferring it to another...and when a man hath in either manner abondoned or granted away his right, then he said to be obliged or bound, not to hinder those to whom such right is granted...that he ought and it is his duty, not to make void that voluntary act of his own: and that such hinderance is injustice."

Thomas Hobbes, from "Leviathan"

WARNING: Spolier Alert for V for Vendetta

Well, I just got back from watching V for Vendetta, and I have to say that those Wachowski brothers sure know how to get inside your head. I think a film is a successful film if it can accomplish at least one of two things: a) simply entertain and engross me for a couple of hours; or b) really make me think about the world I live in and my part in it. By these standards V succeeds, whether or not I agree with the film's point (or even if I've actually grasped the Wachowski's true intentions) I will discuss shortly, but first a short review of the movie itself.

First of all, it looks great, I mean, what do you expect from the guys who brought us the Matrix trilogy? Every set is perfect and I believe that the lighting and effects achieved their intended purpose (which I will discuss shortly), but anyway, the parts that are supposed to look like real life do, and the parts that look like a comic book are really cool. If you're a big fan of Equilibrium (as I am) you might be able to draw some comparisons, and while not as frequent or full tilt, V's knife fighting scenes are every bit as kick ass as Preston's Gun Kata and sword fighting. Of course, much of the film is dialogue and idea, again, what would you expect from the guys who brought you the Matrix trilogy? But that gives us an opportunity to see Natalie Portman give an outstanding performance and get an earful of Hugo Weaving's velvet thick vocal quality and control. Several other characters give helpful performances, but the curious and earnest police detective, an actor I was unfamiliar with, does probably the best supporting job. So overall, looks, acting, sound, music, entertainment, any and all technical aspects are pulled off with the precision you expect from a major production and from artists such as the Wachowskis, but its the ideas that they present that give me some trouble with the film (except for when V manages to crawl all the way back down a tunnel after being shot like, 50 times to die in Natalie Portman's arms...pleeeeaaassse).

In America, we love the underdog and we love Rebels, and why shouldn't we? I mean, literally we're a country of rebels: we overthrew the Brits to secure our freedom, we saw the African American community rebel against white suprememcy, hell...we even invented Rock n' Roll, the most rebellious musical art form since...well, Rock n' Roll. It only stands to reason that this drive and love for the fight against opression should be ingrained in our art: See Star Wars if you want a perfect example, the heroes are all rebels or freedom fighters, they won't tolerate opression and they stand up for liberty even if it costs them their lives. That's what America was built on and I think it is 100 percent important that our art, music, and lives reflect that, so that we don't forget the cost of liberty. But here's the catch: all of that art (if we take movies for example, Star Wars, Equilibrium, vigilante movies like Batman, X-Men, etc) that demonstrates these THEMES, are completely fictional, they present an idea that we as clear thinking adults can incorporate in some way into the vastly more complex real world...but this is where I think the Wachowskis may have gone too far. Instead of leaving their dystopian future in a fictional realm from whence we can extrapolate its ideas and lessons, they explicitly connect it with the real world and real events that occuring in our present age, and that creates some issues for me, logically speaking.

I should probably go ahead and give the disclaimer that I don't know what the Wachowski's were intending to say (if anything) with this film. After all, they used a ton of religious and philisophical undertones in the Matrix, but those were mostly tools to tell a gripping story, and maybe that's what's going on here, but I just got this feeling that they had a message hidden in there, and I'm not sure if I think it is a reasonable one.

First of all, V is not a vigalante, he is a terrorist, or freedom fighter, depending on your perspective, at one point he walks into a newsroom with a bomb strapped to his chest so that he can give a desperate message of freedom, or propoganda, to the people of Britain: Who, it should be pointed out, have access to no other information but that which their government provides them. Insert here: Standard Nazi symbolism, Right Wing religious dictator who only yells when he talks and has really bad teeth, sleezy propogandist, and shadowy SS-like leader. Anyway, I got this really queasy felling in my stomach when V did that, and of course later when he actually says to Natalie Portman that blowing up a building can be good for the world, and of course in the climactic finish to the movie makes good on his word.

So here we have a terrorist, blowing up buildings, sending out video messages, and brainwashing his followers (a truly disturbing montage of scenes and Natalie Portman's finest moments in the film). Is this the right hero for our time? Well, what is he up against? What has driven him to these desperate acts? Well, good reasons, I suppose, the government he lives under attacks its own people with chemical agents, forces one religion on them, has secret police that take advantage of innocents and black bag them, dragging them away to internment camps, kills a newscaster that performs an antigovernment skit on TV, performs experiments on its own citizens, and generally suppresses the populace in every way it can.

So here's where I come to the crux of my problem. If this governmetn were my government, I might consider V the hero of the hour, and if it were a fictional place in a fictional time, again, I would probably be rooting for V as a symbol of the neverending struggle against tyrrany, whether it be personal or global, but as I said earlier, the Wachowskis relate this film to our time and our situation at present. I can't help but get the feeling that much of this film is a stab at our current administration's poicies and actions over the past 5 years and at the conservative elements in our society. So what's the problem with that, you might ask? Well, I just have some logical concerns (and I should probably go ahead and get this out of the way before you take me as some kind of zealot defending my own institutions: I'm an Independant and I'm not a Catholic, so just bear with me for a few moments).

Go back up a couple of paragraphs and read the description of the government in V's society...okay, good. What does it remind you of? I'll tell you what it reminds me of: The government of Iraq that was removed not too long ago by a world coalition. Was it not there that the government suppressed its people, nerve gassed them, rounded up political enemies and killed them, controlled information, forced one religion on its citizens, etc., etc.? so why do I still get the feeling that its Blair and Bush that are getting criticized here? Do I agree with everything they've done over the past four or five years? No, but that doesn't make them Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler. In the fact, the Wachowskis are from a country where the CAN take a stab at their own government, criticize it for a couple of hours, mock its institutions, and then leave their studios and walk down the street in perfect peace without the fear of retribution, and to go even futher, they can then, and probably do, expect that same government to protect them from censorship, outlaws, put out fires in their great state of California, and keep their roads free of potholes for them. THAT is a free society, and that is what our Rebels fought for. That is what all those people walked around the streets of Baghdad with blue fingers for, in a place where terrorists (freedom fighters?) are blowing them up for it. Perhaps those brave people are the heroes the Wachowskis should have made a movie about: people who change their world by taking part in their government, by being their government, not by destroying it.

I didn't vote in the last election...but after seeing those Iraqis vote for the first time, and then get killed for it, I was ashamed that I didn't. The reason I put the Thomas Hobbes quote at the top is because its from a section that speaks about covenants, promises or contracts if you will, between people and their governments. We pledge our allegiance to our government and support, and are even given the right to pick the agents of that government ourselves, in exchange for that government's promise to take care of us, and to protect us. Its not an easy balance, and maybe sometimes we don't get it right, but that's why we have checks and balances and a free press. in any case, WE elected this government that we have now...no matter what our individual votes may have been...becasue we have a covenant, not only with the government, but with each other, to stick together, and take care of each other. Read Hobbes and I think you'll have an undertanding of the complex nature involved in the gaining and surrendering of personal liberties when we take up a government.

I guess it just bothers me that the Wachowskis seem so eager to cast such a dystopian prophecy on the very governments that just waged a war to destroy just such an evil dictatorship. I know that particular war is unpopular: GOOD! It SHOULD be unpopular, when a war IS popular that's when we should be worried, so much evil happens in war and I'm thankful I never had to be in one myself, and I don't wish we were still in a war now...but just becasue something is tragic, sad, and dirty, doesn't mean it isn't necessary. Take V for instance, we watch the movie and we root for him as he kills security guards and dirty politicians, his work is extremely bloody but he remains the hero because he stands for what is right. I just wonder why these filmakers felt more drawn to the terrorists as heroes than the government that fights them, or the people that use their rights to express their freedoms in a proactive way, like those people now voting in Iraq.

To wrap up I only have one more bone to pick with the films ideas and that is this: the Catholic church is once again the evil empire of religion in the film, and its priests are raging pedophiles. I guess why not take a shot at the Church (Everybody's doing it) but the film seems to suggest that the church and our governments are on a path to enforce that religion and destroy the religion of Islam and its "Beautiful imagery" as one character puts it. And while there are many peaceful Muslims living now, and there have been many violent Catholics in the past, I have only this to ask now: tomorrow, when the weekend in over, are Catholics worldwide going to take to the streets, stop feeding the poor and running hospitals and funding orphanages to burn pictures of the Wachowskis, destroy theatres and riot just because someone criticized them? I think not. Just as their are thousands of brave Muslims in Iraq fighting injustice and oppression peacefully by voting and taking part in their government, believe it or not there are equally as many Catholics suffering under persecution in places like the Sudan and China right now. I don't know, I just don't understand what makes them such a fair target whereas we have to watch our step when criticizing other religions. For another example, a South Park episode was recently yanked for mocking Scientology, (Scientology for crying out loud!) yet how many times has that same show mocked Jesus himself? At least the South Park guys are equal opprtunity critics of politics and religion.

In the end though, I'm glad that the Wachowskis are bold enough to make this picture, even if I don't agree with their point. I've actually written a screenplay of my own that takes place in a dystopian future and I suppose whenever we try to forecast what will happen based on current events and ideas its sure to ruffle feathers and get people talking and thinking, which is, in this writer's opinion, a very good thing. So thanks for giving me something to chew on Larry and Andy!

So anyway, next time I promise to talk about subjects that are far lighter, like basketball or the Ryan Reynold's movie: Just Friends, absolutely the funnniest movie you can rent on DVD right now...so go rent it! Then go watch V for Vendetta and see if it make you think as much as it made me think, I'm just glad I live in a place that isn't V's London, and I can talk about whatever I like and no one will bang on my door and arrest me for it.