V is for Violent

Last night I saw “V for Vendetta.” If you are planning on seeing the movie and don’t want to know anything about it, I advise you to stop reading. The movie is set in London in the year 2020. England is under the control of a dictator who protects the people at the expense of their civil liberties. The main character, V, rebels against the government through various acts of terrorism. He meets Natalie Portman’s character, Evey, and eventually molds her into a sympathizer of his causes. All in all, the movie was entertaining. It was well made and the visual effects were nice to look at. However, I left the theater disagreeing with the movie’s message and confused by all of it contradictions. Even though this movie is based on a graphic novel that was written twenty years ago, it was pretty obvious that changes were made to incorporate events that had happened since that time – especially events influenced by the US government under the Bush administration.

So let’s start at the beginning. One of the main quotes from V was, “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” Come on, think about that statement. Does fear properly belong anywhere in the relationship between those that govern and those that are governed? I think not. Fear breeds anger and anger breeds hate and violence. I do think that it’s essential that both parties are aware and respectful of the other, but certainly not fearful. Another line that was everywhere in the movie was, “Strength through unity, unity through faith.” This propaganda was put up by the fascist government and was often vandalized with the letter V in protest. Now V is supposed to be rebelling against the government’s message, yet his actions follow this sentiment exactly. He encourages all of England to rise up against its government by appearing at the Parliament buildings dressed in his costume of a black cape and Guy Fawkes mask, to see the Parliament buildings blown up. He believes that this terrorist act will inspire a change in the country. So basically what is he proposing? Strength through unity (citizens will band together to overtake the government, all in the same costume) and unity through faith (destroying the Parliament buildings will turn the tide in England).

Throughout the movie we also see a drastic transformation in Evey. She changes from an obedient citizen to a terrorist herself. I do believe whole-heartedly that each citizen has the right, if not responsibility, to examine the actions of their government (if they are in some sort of representative government system) and to voice any concerns they may have. However, I don’t think that violence is ever the answer. What is the point of blowing up the Parliament building? No one was in the building, so no top government officials were harmed by the explosion. Furthermore, if you are living under a fascist dictatorship, wouldn’t you think that doing something like this would just make the government limit your civil liberties even more to prevent such acts in the future?

All in all, I found it interesting that the makers of the film chose to take examples of limited freedom in our current society (homosexual rights, eavesdropping, torture, etc.) and expand upon them, but I wasn’t happy with the way that the story’s antagonists rebelled against them. Hopefully the future that is portrayed in this movie won’t come to pass, but if it does, I also hope that the democratic citizens of the world will keep their cool and resort to more productive and peaceful means than violence.