V for Vendetta (2005)
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
THE SUMMARY: Remember, remember, the fifth of November - I certainly will. I was hoping for some redemption in the last entry of what turned out to be mostly Natalie Portman month, and there was. Not necessarily for her personally - she wasn’t bad in this movie, necessarily - she just could have been anybody. What makes V for Vendetta a coveted 5-Wicky™ is a stellar performance by Hugo Weaving as V, and a shockingly accurate blueprint for the authoritarian takeover of the future, if only a little off on the political persuasions of the tyrants.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER FULLSEMI1776: A nearly perfect image of what the elite/establishment are trying to do with their COVID/medical tyranny throughout the world.
The Pathogen Path to Power
THE BEST:
Let me count the ways this movie parallels today with shocking accuracy:
A virus is used to concentrate political power, and flip an election: Stop me if you’ve heard this one, every day for the last two years: a political party launches a biological project in the name of ‘national security,’ creating a virus designed to concentrate power in people who believe the ends always justify the means. They are targeting not an enemy of the country, but the country itself. Media allies spread panic, bitterly dividing the citizenry, and ultimately, the viral crisis produces an election result nobody foresaw and many don’t believe. After the election, the new party in power aggressively prosecutes their opposition and deems them ‘terrorists.’ No, that’s not a news summary 2020 and 2021 - that’s the plot of V for Vendetta. If you’ve never seen the movie, take 5 minutes and watch the ‘Pathogen Path to Power’ scene. Is it possible the entire coronavirus ‘pandemic’ was plagiarized?
Government propaganda is all about dat ‘unity’: The specific wording of the government’s propaganda is eerily identical to today’s. ‘Strength through unity. Unity through faith.’ ‘The security of this nation depends on complete and total compliance.’ Just like Joe, V’s tyrants demand the unity of everyone doing exactly as they say.
‘A message of hate’: After V hijacks the airwaves to deliver his call to November 5th rebellion, which is a perfectly principled and reasoned message, the Chancellor and the news networks characterize it as a ‘message of hate.’ No logic, no argument, no reason in rebuttal - just call it ‘hate’ and ban it.
Damage control strategy: The government and media strategy meetings for how to characterize deaths and other news events are hilarious, and likely much more reflective or real life than we realize. Note the truth is never the objective. Presenting you with information to make you think or behave a certain way is the first and only consideration.
The newsman is a major stockholder in big pharma: ‘The Voice of London’ Lewis Prothero is revealed to be a major stockholder in Viadoxic Pharmaceutical. Sounds an awful lot like Jim Cramer lately. Submit to government, and get more shots! If you listen closely, you can hear ‘ca-ching! ca-ching!’ in the distant background of the anchorman’s set.
‘The power of no’ is the only thing that ends it: Despite all the strategizing, deception, intimidation, violence, and outright brute force of the government, the tyranny finally ends when the masses start exercising the power of ‘no.’ Once everyone (ironically) puts on the mask and says ‘no,’ the military, the police investigator trying to stop Evey, and law enforcement in totality just stands down and respects the rightful power of the people again. It’s a valuable lesson: nobody ever complied their way to freedom against injustice. One of the few things the movie got wrong? Masks are a sign of rebellion in this plot, instead of a sign of compliance (I mean wrong in the prophetic application to today, not wrong in the context of the movie, of course).
The moral necessity of dismantling corrupt government: V is simply an American revolutionary in a different but equally fancy outfit - with the articulation of his philosophy, he may as well be an American founding father. You’ll note that despite his violence, despite his deception, and despite what would otherwise be the marks of a villain, V is a hero. Why? Because everyone accepts the moral corruption of what he’s fighting: a government that no longer serves or even respects the rights of the people. If the government betrays its purpose of securing and defending the rights of the people, it is the moral duty of the people to dismantle it, That’s why Thomas Jefferson is an American hero, and that’s why V is this movie’s hero. We accept his violence because it is fundamentally defensive in nature - defensive of a foundational moral truth, if not of the individual physically.
V’s hero status ought to make us think about his role in our society. If he’s a hero in Vendetta’s world, why exactly do we sit around and take so much of the same injustices perpetrated against us? How different is the Vendetta world and the real world, at this point? If V is a hero, how soon do we need a similar hero, or do we already?
I pose all of these thoughts hypothetically and defensively, Susan.
The battle of words and violence: Despite being probably too skilled in the arts of assassination and combat, as I’ll get to, V has a morally clear perspective on the relationship between ideas and violence. He can kick anybody’s ass if he wants to or needs to, but he understands that even his blades don’t have the power of truth and the words that express it.
Be like V. Be capable of violence for the situation that demands it, but understand that your ideas and words are always to be deployed first, both because it’s the moral order of operations if you respect life, and because those words are the higher power.
The plot twist was another solid piece of writing: At the risk of writing an entire movie script worth of text myself here, lastly I must also credit the plot twist that Evey’s prison term was actually an illusion and a test by V. It was a genuine exploding brain moment, something I had no idea was coming.
THE WORST:
We get it - she likes muff-diving and her parents don’t.
The lesbian propaganda: I can’t fault this movie for portraying conservatives or traditionalists as the fascists, I suppose - it’s a work of fiction and it’s certainly possible that sort of fascism could rise. It’s just tough to take the movie completely seriously in today’s context where the progressive mafia are the fascists, not the victims of fascism.
I can certainly look past the political specifics and appreciate the broader concepts, and I do, but the lesbian propaganda letter than Evey got from an unknown prisoner named Valerie was downright laughable. ‘I’m about to die, so here’s a concise history of my lesbianism starting in middle school.’ C’mon. If any of us were to write a farewell letter offering our final thoughts, I doubt our sixth-grade sweethearts would be among them. Even lesbians have more interesting things than that to say.
Plus, Valerie’s blonde lover wasn’t even close to butch enough. If there was any truth or accuracy in this story, her girlfriend could plausibly pass for a man and she could avoid this oppression altogether, but would oppress herself anyway into an SUV at the bottom of the ocean long before this prison torture ever became a reality.
The gunfight was a little silly: Never bring a knife to a gunfight. Unless you’re V. Then bring six knives on your belt, a plate of armor, count on everybody shooting you conveniently in that armor, and you’re good. I get it - it’s an action and a drama movie. We’re here for the entertainment. We’re here under the premise that V is a super hero of sorts. That’s why I’m not knocking this movie down for what is a little bit of a silly fight scene. The movie isn’t as good if V just gets shot in the face, the bomb-delivery train never arrives, and the closing fireworks show never happens.
THE RATING: 5/5 Wickies awarded without hesitation. My specific gripes do not outweigh the massive importance of the broad concepts, and the beauty and drama with which they are presented. Thoroughly enjoyed open to close, and in my thoughts afterward. One of those rare movies I would personally insist you watch if you never have.
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NEXT WEEK: Die Hard (1988)
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