V for Vendetta

A Wachowski brothers film (written, not directed), this is based on the DC Comics character, but infused with modern political commentary. "V" (Hugo Weaving) is the brave terrorist fighting against an authoritarian British Government led by Chancellor Adam Sutler (played rather nastily by John Hurt - who to those 'too young to remember' played Winston Smith in the 1984 film version of George Orwell's 1984, starring alongside Richard Burton). The plot: Young woman Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) is out to see a friend one night and gets caught by some 'finger men', who seem to be an English version of Hitler's SA, but without the brown shirts. They're just thugs and want to rape her - enter "V", who saves her and brings her to a roof-top to watch him blow up a government building. The story then begins of V's plan to undermine and bring down the '1984'-like government. He is acting out the infamous gunpowder plot of 1606, after which Guy Fawkes was hanged for the attempt to blow up Parliament. You see, V is a terrorist - complete with strap-on explosive belt. He is also a 'superhero' - a genetic abnormality born of a program to develop a biological weapon and cure. Chancellor Sutler's government was brought to power after an apparent Muslim terrorist attack on Britain using a biological weapon that killed tens of thousands of people. OBVIOUS ENDING REVEALED In true current-minded Hollywood style (remember how the Wachowski brothers went totally off the rails in the Matrix sequels), the honest cop chasing after V finds out that it was the evil government that actually released the bio-weapon and blamed innocent Muslims. V and Evey, of course, succeed in the struggle to blow up Parliament and overthrow the tyranny. The End.

In summary: V, played by Hugo Weaving (though you never see his horribly disfigured face), is Hezbollah's style of hero. No, that's unfair. Clearly the Wachowski brothers are trying to communicate more than the simple "terrorism is a matter of perspective" crap. They are also trying to say the because John Hurt is in the movie you should remember the film of 1984 and relate it to the governments in the West who are telling you that terrorism is a threat - it's just an excuse to bring down the dark ages upon us, they argue. This "V for Vendetta" isn't another of these comic book heroes (he was and his creator wanted nothing to do with this movie) - he is the anti-Bush. The suicide bomber of love for the left. Because like George Lucas, or Spielberg, or every other Hollywood director, they think that it's ok to shove their political views ham-fistedly into a script. V is poetic in his presentation, but it's the same turgid rubbish that Lucas had his characters spouting in the third Star Wars. The scene that best illustrates this is that where the closet gay Stephen Fry character is showing Evey his treasured collection of banned items - including a Koran. If indeed, as the majority of Britain's Muslim desire, the Koran was the legal code of the Isles, Fry's character would have been given almost exactly the same treatment. I say almost, because instead of being beaten up and spirited away during the night, as in the film, he would have been castrated and hung in a town square with a jubilant crowd encouraged to beat and burn his corpse, as in Iran or the Palestinian Authority. Fundamentalist Islam is not fond of homosexuality, to a degree that makes the Christian Right and Ultra-Orthodox Judaism look like support groups for gays.

The Casablanca connection: Rick and V both live in the constrictive authoritarian atmosphere of right wing regimes. Both are turned into heroes by the actions of the evildoers - V was bio-engineered, Rick was emotionally engineered. Rick knew who he was and what he was doing, needing only a shove to notice that his morality was always there, just waiting to emerge again. V, in contrast, has no idea who he is, yet still has that moral compass that tells him what to do. Both men meet their loves, having the chance to save them and then go on with the fight without them. We can just be thankful that Warner Bros. were sane enough to prevent them shaving Ingrid's head. 

The rating: 4 out of 10. I was disappointed with "V" as a film - it is a poor man's 1984. The main problem is that the Wachowski brothers clearly don't understand the message of Orwell - that the most authoritarian of movements couch themselves as progressive - in their attempt at political commentary. The Ministry of Truth really was seen by the Big Brother regime as telling the truth - that's the insidious nature of 1984. V is just pseudo-political imagery with brave Natalie Portman having her hair shaved off - that evil President Bush, see what he made them do!