V FOR VENDETTA

REVIEWED BY SHANNON H.

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, language, violence

Rated:

Graphic novels such as Sin City have made its way to the big screen along with related stories from comic books. This particular story is unique because some people choose to think that it relates to the political situation in the United States (i.e. liberal bias). No matter what bias it holds, V for Vendetta is an impressive story with a great deal of symbolic imagery that does not leave the mind.

Evey (Natalie Portman) is your average everyday Briton living in a futuristic, fascist state. There is a curfew, controlled media, censorship, and everything that makes up a typical police state (the symbol is a perverted version of a Christian cross). She goes out to meet with someone after curfew and is sexually assaulted by policemen. She is saved by a masked terrorist known as "V" (Hugo Weaving). After witnessing V's bombing of one of Britain's famous buildings, she is disgusted at him and heads home. Unknown to her, V's activity leaks out to the British intelligence and they figure that she is an accomplice to the crime. The next day, Evey shows up at work at a state-controlled British television network.  Sometime later V shows up, takes the employees hostage and broadcasts his message across Britain to his fellow brainwashed Britons.

V does these terrorist acts to get back at the British government for being elitist, oppressing the innocent people, killing those who are considered weak and inhuman, etc. This does not sit well with the Hitleresque dictator of Britian, Adam Sutler (John Hurt) nor with the "voice" of the British television channel, Lewis Prothero (Roger Allam). Prothero was also in charge of a "detention" facility that killed degenerate individuals such as homosexuals, Afro-Britons, the mentally challenged, etc. After the hostage, Evey is injured by a British policeman and V takes her to his home underground. There, Evey tells V that she's been afraid of the government all her life and wants to be able to stand up for herself (her parents were activists and they were murdered along with her brother when Evey was young). V, who is a lover of the arts and sciences (he has many paintings and sculptures that the British government deemed "obscene"), offers to help her toughen up a bit. He vows to do this in one year from November 5th (the day of the Guy Fawkes gunpowder plot; V considers Fawkes a hero and martyr). 

Evey finds herself in compromising situations. She is first used as bait for a sexually perverted bishop so V can kill him (V kills people he finds responsible for the slaughter of individuals at the detention center). Evey is then arrested and tortured in the British detention facilities. Her head is shaved, she is humiliated by being forced to wear nothing but a huge, orange smock, and given disgusting food.  till, she refuses to tell British authorities on the whereabouts of V and is threatened with execution by firing squad. The film is rated R for violence and profanity. There are several uses of "hell" and abuses of deity (one involving a vulgarity), scattered F-words, s-words, and d-words. People are seen being beaten, stabbed, shot at, and slashed. A girl is shot by a British policeman for wearing a replica of V's mask (the town's citizens beat him up in retaliation). Others are captured in their homes and dragged out to be killed. Evey is sexually assaulted by police thugs. There's an implication of a lesbian couple who are sent to the detention facility to be killed (they are seen kissing in one scene). Two other women are seen holding hands in a few shots. A perverted bishop tries to have his way with Evey but fails.

The fascist British government uses the Christian faith as an excuse to do the things they do (on TV, Prothero claims that the fall of the U.S. was "godlessness"; the U.S. had returned to being a British entity in the film). A TV show host (Stephen Fry) who is friends with Evey is murdered for poking fun at the British government and possessing a copy of the Koran in his basement (he kept it there because he enjoys the artistic qualities of it). I enjoyed the film because of the action-packed scenes. The story was fascinating, the production value was high, and the acting was superb. My only complaint is that it smells like liberal bias; that the film makers tried to portray Christianity and the U.S. in a negative light. However, I also see it from the other standpoint; that there are individuals who want to pervert Christianity to their own needs rather than God's Will. The film is also an obvious allusion to Hitler's regime (i.e. forced killings of "degenerates," heavy censorship, and state-controlled offices, including the church). Despite the excellent film making, acting, and such, it's a film that's best left untouched by Christians.
 

© www.charitysplace.com - all rights reserved.