[INDEX |
NATIONAL
|
WORLD
|
PERSPECTIVE
|
COLUMNS
|
MONEY
|
ENTERTAINMENT
|
HEALTH
|
TECH
|
LETTERS
|
SUBSCRIBE]
FinalCall.com News
Entertainment News
V for Vendetta - Film Review
By Kam Williams
Updated May 3, 2006 - 9:36:00 AM
Spirit of Guy Fawkes invoked in subversive sci-fi flick
While most Americans have probably never heard of Guy “Guido” Fawkes (1570-1606), he has long been an infamous character in the annals of English history. This former soldier was the munitions mastermind behind the foiled Gunpowder Plot intended to assassinate King James I and all the members of Parliament on November 5, 1606. However, he was arrested early that morning in the bowels of the House of Lords as he was about to detonate the two-and-one-half tons of explosives he and his co-conspirators had hidden in a cellar.
Although Fawkes was summarily hanged, drawn and quartered on January 31 of the following year, his legend has nonetheless endured. Every November 5, citizens all across the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Newfoundland celebrate Guy Fawkes Night by burning his figure in effigy. As they stoke the flames of the bonfire, they chant a popular rhyme which begins: “Remember, remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot…”
You might also like to know that when this tradition began, people referred to the dummy on the pyre as a “Guy.” This, ultimately, gave rise to today’s colloquial use of “guy” in lower case to mean an average person.
Recently voted as one the 100 Greatest Britons of all time in a poll conducted by the BBC, Guy Fawkes has been memorialized as a cultural folk hero in many a ballad, such as John Lennon’s “Remember,” which features a tremendous explosion following its last line, “Remember the 5th of November.” Meanwhile, The Smiths inscribed the phrase “Guy Fawkes was a genius,” into the vinyl of their The Queen Is Dead album.
The reason I decided to start this review with a sidebar brushing up on British history is because a certain amount of background material is probably necessary to fully appreciate the new film V for Vendetta, one of the most subtly subversive sci-fi flicks ever to come out of Hollywood.
Based on the illustrated DC Comic series of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, it was adapted to the big screen by the Wachowski Brothers of the Matrix franchise fame. But the movie marks the impressive directorial debut of James McTeigue who previously worked as the assistant director on all three installments of the Matrix trilogy.
Set in the not-too-distant future, the film unfolds in a rather shadowy England beset by a totalitarian repression of Orwellian dimensions. Subjected to the constant surveillance of Big Brother-like scrutiny, the entire populace has seemingly been conditioned to kowtow to Chancellor Sutler (John Hurt), a despicable despot who rules with an iron fist.
We learn that this master manipulator’s regime achieved such absolute power by promising protection from the threat of terrorism in return for the citizenry’s surrender of civil rights. Sound familiar? This is the first of a flurry of patent parallels the picture presents between the Sutler regime and the Bush administration.
In any case, hope for humanity rests with “V” (Hugo Weaving), a swashbuckling swordsman who lives in a subterranean hideaway. A cross between Zorro and The Joker, this wisecracking avenger always wears a Guy Fawkes mask and leaves a “V” instead of a “Z” behind as a calling card after dispatching bad guys. He exhibits a sense of humor despite having been burned beyond recognition by government researchers in a badly botched scientific experiment.
A freedom fighter with a master plan, ala the idol whose countenance covers his scarred face, his aim is to liberate the masses by blowing up Parliament, and on November 5, of course. In quest of this doomsday scenario, our hero finds a sidekick/love interest of sorts in “Evey” (Natalie Portman), a beautiful, but badly brainwashed, clerk employed by the mind-controlling British Television Network. But when V saves her from a brutal beating at the hands of the thought police, Evey gets her start on the road to recovery.
Fans of The Matrix expecting state-of-the-art fight sequences will undoubtedly walk away disappointed from this relatively cerebral adventure, for this is a flick where preachy dialogue, social statements and character development have been exalted at the expense of balls-out action and technical wizardry. Furthermore, since V for Vendetta transparently expects the audience to root for a protagonist with an anti-establishment message on a variety of today’s hot-button issues, be prepared to check your politics at the door, at least if you tend to lean to the right of center.
Forget the Ides of March. Beware the 5th of November.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for profanity and graphic violence
Running time: 106 minutes
