Remember, remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot;
I know of no reason, why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

     V for Vendetta is the latest film written by the Wachowski brothers and directed by Matrix’s first assistant director, James McTeigue.  This futuristic sci-fi thriller was adapted from Alan Moore’s graphic novel, V for Vendetta, which was published in the 1980’s.  The story is set in the future year of 2020.  This dismal futuristic world that has been ravaged by the likes of war, global warming, and near apocalyptic biological disaster. 
    Much like Oceania in Orwell’s famed novel, 1984; in this English dystopian fascist state of the future, individual freedom and liberties are suppressed.  Censorship and propaganda rules the airwaves.  The State Party Leader, Chancellor Sutler and his Gestapo police patrol, known as “Finger-men,” rule London with an iron fist.  Protest and dissention is not tolerated.    
    The character V is the unspoken; howbeit, suppressed voice of the people.  His ideology is revolutionary and incendiary; for it stands in stark contrast to the authoritarian ideals of the government of the ruling Party.  V admonishes the citizens of England that it’s time to take back their government, declaring, “People should not be afraid of their Governments.  Governments should be afraid of their people.”  
     V lives in a labyrinth maze of discarded subways beneath old London in a sanctuary which he calls, the Shadow Gallery.   The nocturnal avenger appears under the shadows of night, wearing the mask of his slain hero, Guy Fawkes, a self-proclaimed liberator who was hanged for concocting a plot to blow up both Houses of Parliament and bring down the British government in the infamous Gunpowder Plot of November the 5th, of 1605.

     V for Vendetta is dark, moody and cerebral.  Hugo’s Weaving portrayal of V, the tortured soul behind the mask, is both poignant and insightful.  The movie’s message, while kaleidoscopic at times, never strays from the central theme that “idealism,” not guns, is the incendiary spark that ignites wars, revolutions and topples dictatorial governments.   V tells his enemies that he cannot be killed because he represents an idea, and “Ideals are bulletproof.” 
     Rightly or wrongly, history is replete with acts of terrorism that ignited revolutions: the storming of the Bastille in France, the Boston Tea Party in America, the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Iran, ect… If there is one thing history has taught us it is that, the force and impact of ideals cannot be controlled, channeled, or contained especially when they are the impetus for revolution. 
     Natalie Portman says, “Although [V for Vendetta] was written about Thatcher's England, the fact that it can be applied to so many different times and places show the cyclical nature of these occurrences in history. In the film, V is described as an idea rather than a person. One of the reasons he is invincible is because you can kill a man, but an idea can't be killed."
     V’s reign of violence in nocturnal London is both tactical and personal.  He aims to bring down the subversive government of Chancellor Sutler. It goes without saying, that he accomplishes this in the most dramatic of fashions; exploding buildings in synchronous accompaniment with tumultuous renditions of Tchaikovsky’s famed 1812 Overture- a historical classical composition that dramatized Napoleon’s disastrous retreat from Russia; perhaps history’s ultimate irony of one biting off more than one could chew.
      V’s reign of terror is his way of reversing the gains of the political revolution that swept the vilest men of England into power, where they sit secure, and beyond the reach of the long arm of the people’s justice.  In a post 9-11 world, V’s message of vigilante justice and terror may be viewed by many as fanatical extremism or fringe anarchy, but we should hasten to remember, remember that this graphic novel was written long before the ill-fated events in New York, Washington and Madrid, which forever changed the way the world viewed the subject of terrorism.

© Warner Bros.

     "It's a political piece,” admits actor Hugh Weaving, who portrays V in the film.  "It is full of ideas and that's the reason I was drawn to it. The central issue is fear and to what extent people living in fear should or should not take responsibility for their own lives, and it is also about governments not being responsible to their own people."