Movie Review--V For Vendetta

"Beneath this mask, there is more than flesh, Mr. Creedy.  Behind this mask there is an idea.  And ideas are bulletproof."

--V, V for Vendetta

In some ways, although it is an older film, V for Vendetta is right at home in 2020, a year full of conspiracy theories, political uproar, and general chaos.  Directly exploring themes of tyranny and revolution, the movie features a virus and governmental misdirection, which only make it all the more fitting for viewing in this year of conservative and liberal incompetence.  Instead of simply portraying people as they discuss or act upon ideas in an effort to resist a tyrannical system, V for Vendetta has its titular character serve as a symbolic embodiment of anarchy--or at least one variation of it.  Everything from his Guy Fawke's mask to his early alliteration gives his presence an abnormality that lends itself to his worldview.  In fact, even the signature V emblem that is shown throughout the film is actually an altered symbol for anarchy.

Production Values

Other than the themes themselves, Natalie Portman's Evey and Hugo Weaving's V are the very heart of the film, and one of them or the other is featured in most scenes in some form.  There are plenty of other characters, many of which are acted very well, but each one of them is a minor character by comparison to Evey and V.  From the first handful of scenes onward, this trend is established.  Natalie Portman has some particularly noteworthy moments of her performance in the second half of the film when a dire situation forces her to develop her priorities and worldview, yet V himself, his shadow falling over the whole of the movie, is brought from the graphic novel to the cinematic format with the most nuanced performance of the entire film.  Hugo Weaving has scenes of emotional fury, tenderness, and resolve, and he handles them all with the same talent he shows in other roles like Elrond and Agent Smith.  His acting and that of Natalie Portman carry V for Vendetta between the more explosive parts that utilize the effects of the time well without ever sacrificing characterization for action spectacle.

Story

Some spoilers are below.

A woman named Evey becomes entangled in the anarchist plot of an enigmatic and resourceful man called "V" after he saves her from predatory police officers and she subsequently saves him during an anti-government operation.  V brings her into hiding in order to protect her from government retribution, which gives her the chance to begin understanding V more deeply.  The High Chancellor of England fumes at V's plot as he desperately attempts to conceal the true circumstances around his rise to power.  Evey is eventually forced to decide whether she is willing to give her life to resist oppression even when promised restoration to her life in the established system.

Intellectual Content

Ideas, either concepts or the thoughts that reflect on them, are intangible, accessible by anyone who merely devotes themselves to thinking, and thus they outlive the people who might be killed because their ideas threaten the political status quo.  V hopes to inspire discontent with the status quo in part by appealing to the fact that ideas transcend suppression by governments.  Even though V for Vendetta shows a conservative government, liberal ideas are just as at home in a totalitarian context as those of conservatism, even if some people are more prone to associate one with totalitarianism than the other.  Neither is inherently connected to totalitarianism, of course, but both are arbitrary and incompatible with rationalism.

V sides with anarchism as he opposes the political power of his day, yet the movie never actually explores how anarchy itself is not some rationalistic, inherently just ideology.  It is just V's reaction to a particular form of tyranny.  At the very least, he is more concerned with truth than many of his fellow citizens, despite making philosophical errors of his own (he merely assumes that his moral preferences supercede those of political leaders, for instance).  However, his efforts to fight propaganda still raise vital issues at the intersection of epistemology and politics.  How can a person ensure they never fall for the lies of a government or community of any sort, then?  How can someone make sure his or her beliefs are true?

A true rationalist avoids being deceived by governments simply by virtue of making no assumptions.  Even beyond the utter philosophical uselessness of hearsay from any source beyond providing possible evidence in support of certain claims, the very existence of other minds itself cannot be proven, meaning that a consistently rational person does not think anything more of their sensory perceptions as a whole than that they are perceptions that either do or do not correspond to actual external circumstances.  A rationalist does not even believe that other people exist at all!  If someone is rational enough to grasp this much, they will by default not think of governments or media giants as epistemological authorities in the first place.

Conclusion

V for Vendetta starts out as a very over the top story of a dystopian future, but it quickly becomes very thematically relevant to not only the present day, but also to key areas of political philosophy in all time periods.  There is not a regime that is incapable of being corrupted (not that most regimes are philosophically sound in the first place) and there is not a broad population that cannot be fed deceptive information.  No amount of social or technological progress renders these things impossibilities.  2020 has its share of especially blatant political instabilities, but the elevation of political convenience and power over truth does not require a pandemic to take hold.  All it takes to plunge a community into failure and gratuitous chaos is irrationality, egoism, and philosophical apathy.

Content:

 1.  Violence:  V uses bladed weapons to kill attackers in multiple scenes.  Bursts of blood are shown in these shots, and other individuals are assaulted by government agents in flashbacks.

 2.  Profanity:  "Shit," "bitch," and "fucking" (or similar words) are used.

 3.  Nudity:  Nude corpses are shown briefly in a flashback scene.