Guest Blogger: Cait 1

Originally a comic book by Alan Moore; V for Vendetta has become a top choice in the world of graphic novels as well as the film world. The setting of the story is dystopian Britain in the year 2020. A strange virus is making its way through the country while the government does nothing about it and continues to restrict the civilian’s freedom. The government starts to lose its iron grip when a figure in a Guy Fawkes mask makes his way through the country bringing the people to think for themselves and revolt. He saves a girl named Evey (who coincidentally had her parents killed by the government because they tried to revolt) and forces her to join his efforts. With Evey’s help he plans to blow up parliament on the fifth of November, just as the man on his mask did almost three hundred years ago. While V and Evey occupy one section of the plot; the second plot line running throughout the movie tells the story of the fascist leaders trying to stop him. In the movie, the government is made up of 5 men and one main leader who is depicted as a “Big Brother” sort of dictator. When both stories meet up you learn about the virus; who was affected by it and you find out if V succeeds in his mission. Natalie Portman plays Evey; a naïve and quiet girl who is afraid to live her life until she meets V. I think Natalie Portman did an okay job playing Evey; she wouldn’t have been my first choice since I have read the comic, but anyone who hasn’t read it wouldn’t notice. The elusive and intelligent V is played by Hugo Weaving, and interestingly enough most of his acting was all voice and body language. Most of the movie (I can’t reveal whether or not you see his face at the end) he is wearing his Guy Fawkes mask so his voice and body language were everything. I think Weaving did a fantastic job portraying V because the whole point of his character was to make people think about their own freedom and existence and to let the viewer decide if he is a hero or a terrorist. The themes in the movie are wide open for interpretation, so each viewer takes something different from it. I thought the movie was about mental freedom and how you can think differently about any situation if you free yourself from fear. Apparently Manohla Dargis from the New York Times had a completely different opinion. He summed up what he thought about the movie when he said “Since then, inevitable questions and objections have been raised about whether V for Vendetta turns a terrorist into a hero, which is precisely what it does do.” As I said before, this movie is open to interpretation and this is the authors’ particular interpretation of it. V can come across as a terrorist for blowing up the Old Bailey and trying to blow up parliament, but if you look at what the government is doing to the people, I think he is justified in what he does. V for Vendetta is a great movie and I would recommend watching it at least once, it is worth both the time and the money.