Review of V for Vendetta (2006) by Mccoy 9 — 26 Mar 2013

Freedom or absolute control? Democracy or tyranny?

These are the questions asked in the film V For Vendetta. Set in a near future London, England is ruled by an extreme right wing totalitarian state government known as Norsefire led by it's tyrannical leader Adam Sutler. (John Hurt) However, Norsefire is under attack by a masked figure known only as "V". (Hugo Weaving) Working class woman Evey (Natalie Portman) must figure out if V is a freedom fighter or an anarchic terrorist.

The film, written and produced by The Wachowskis and directed by James McTeigue; comes from a comic book series from the 1980's by Alan Moore. The movie's story is faithful to the original comic's story and most of it's themes. The story, although being nearly 30 years old originally, still rings a true chord today with peoples fears about terrorism, war, biological and mass destruction weapons, fear and or hate of minorities (such as people of different religious and political beliefs, background, race and orientation) government backed surveillance, torture for information, fear of modern loss of freedom by governments, and manipulation by the media/propaganda. The controlling Norsefire party runs parallels with the Nazi Party from WWII or the Big Brother state from George Orwell's novel 1984. Other themes are "V: One persons terrorist can be one persons freedom fighter" which I'll leave you to decide if V is a good guy promoting social revolution or a bad guy promoting anarchy and violence to achieve one's goals.

The actors do a really good job with their characters. Main star Natalie Portman is good as Evey but most of the kudos needs to go to Hugo Weaving as V. Weaving does a brilliant job with his movements and voice that left me not even thinking about the Guy Fawkes mask. John Hurt plays the sinister and egocentric Adam Sutler with a venomous conviction. (which is in odds with his perfect portrayal of victim of the state Winston Smith in the movie adaptation of 1984) Tim Pigott-Smith is perfect as Peter Creedy who is even more sinister and narcissistic than his superior Sutler. Special plus points go to Stephen Fry as Gordon Deitrich, a talk show host on Norsefire run TV network BTN who is secretly a gay man and secretly revolts against Norsefire by collecting items banned by the goverment. (such as anti-Norsefire propaganda, images of pre-Norsefire England and a copy of the Quran, a crime punishable by death) The production is brilliant, with that washed out and dreary look (like other dystopia films like 1984).

So check it out if you're up for a good film.