V for Vendetta Discussion Thread

**** all the way

V for Vendetta was a towering achievement of the human spirit, showing how art can be the finest of mediums to express the hights of human greatness and man's capacity for civilization and benevolence.

This film was and is a powerful reminder of the duty of every single person, regardless of race, creed, age, orientation, or most importantly in the modern day, political affiliation, to stand together against the sadists and the real evil that exists in our everyday world and acts as a poison and a leech to all that is right.

Artistically stunning, more powerful than Passion of the Christ for sure, emotionally uplifting, heart-wrenching, introspective, colorful, and realistic, V is a true guiding light for our time.

I can only think of three films that equal or surpass V for Vendetta in its power and importance of message: To Kill a Mockingbird, Schindler's List, and Hotel Rwanda. It is a significant and memorable film, but also incredibly tragic in that it will never be taken seriously due to the simple fact that it is a comic book film, and the overwhelming majority of the tiny audience that will ever see it will overlook the message and focus on the inconsequential violence.


This is a film that I will be showing to my children, that I will reccomend to everyone that lends me their ear, and would show to any audience, be it a classroom or an opera hall, and I truly hope that you all will do the same.

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On to the more mundane:

Did the ends of V's actions justify the means?

Absolutely

He did not kill a single innocent person. The Bailey and Parliament were empty when they were destroyed, and the only possible collateral casualties were quite far from either blast. In Jordan Tower, he had already evacuated the building before setting the bomb. If it wasn't for the police who had entered the building to apprehend Evey, it would have been completely empty by the time that the bomb went off. He did not murder innocent civilians. He only killed the criminals responsible for creating the St. Mary's virus (which cruelly murdered hundreds of thousands of innocents, notably a school full of children) and only killed the soldiers and police when faced with no other choice. It could be said that these last deaths are not worthy of being considered crimes, since by entering the armed services, one signs away their right to life if it means entering a combat situation, and there certainly was a war going on between V and the army.

If anything, V went far out of his way to PREVENT a single civilian death.

The only crime that he committed was disrupting the normal flow of business at a television station and cause great damage to two historical monuments. Terrible offenses, to be sure, but not unnecessary, unwarranted, or murderous.

As for the ends, they certainly were justified as well. The claim that the government brought order to Britain is disproven in the film. It was the government that created the chaos in the first place, and only returned the country to a state of order after creating a sufficient volume of fear that they would be able to rampage over the people unchecked. The government was as if not more harsh and discriminatory than Nazi Germany. The crimes committed against "Immigrants, Muslims, Homosexuals [and other degenerates]" would have been more numerous, statistically speaking, than those committed against the six million Jews and six million other ethnic minorities of Europe. It was the government leaders that created the St. Mary's virus, and which continued to oppress every citizen long after any potential danger had passed. They were all criminals, and what V did to them was far more benevolent and painless, than the punishment recieved by the criminals of World War II, if not, dare I say, too light and forgiving.

His one flaw was the torture of Evey. Even this must be looked at under the lense of the fact that he SAVED her, twice, from the black-baggers, even after she had betrayed him and tried to compromise his mission. The act

 

The scene where V was without his mask, in the shadows, I do believe he was wearing some sort of "skin mask" as in...it wasn't his bare face. I, myself, wasn't sure of that, but two of my friends confirmed it. I'd still like to see on my own, but in that scene...I very surely knew it was V (Hugo) speaking to the inspectors.

Yes, it's confirmed in the scene where the officers discover that the agent was dead. It cuts to a closeup to the skin mask in V's hideout on a mannequin or something. So he never actually did show his face.

 

anyone notice at the end when everyone is taking off the masks if Hugo Weaving was there? i thought I saw him. i wouldn't be surprised if he was put in there

 

I wouldn't be surprised if every notable actor in the film was among the crowd at the end. I've been watching that scene over and over again, trying to find Weaving (no luck yet) but I am absolutely convinced that Stephen Fry (who played Gordon Dietrich) was in the last scene, despite V stating that he had been executed. I'm also pretty sure that Billie Cook (the little glasses girl) who was shot by the cop (and who motivated my absolute favorite scene of film) was also there. I also have a feeling that John Hurt (Sutler) was somewhere in there, too (although that could be explained by the person in the crowd being one of the two Sutler impersonators that we see on Dietrich's Benny Hill-like show)

 

Yeah they were all there. Kind of the point.

I never saw Weaving there though. Makes more sense if he isn't though.

 

Yes all(most) of the characters are there. Its part of the "idea" symbolism, showing that, like V, they were not only people, but part of the grand "theory".

 

So I finally saw this one over the weekend - all I can say is it was awesome and I absolutely loved the last use of the 1812 overture! (Not because of which building it was, just because it was awesome.)

I'll be getting the DVD.

 

I went to this movie on my birthday with my sister, and we both really enjoyed it. Not as much action as I expected, but it still kept my attention throughout. And I must say that I loved the score.

Though, it was funny when my sister cringed during the first lesbian kiss.

Definately deserved better at the box office.

It's good to know I wasn't hallucinating.

 

yeah. i have to agree that this movie definately deserved better at the box office

 

so who's getting the DVD August 1st?

 

Just to let everyone know I am covering the V for Vendetta DVD in the Preview of Upcoming DVDs Thread in Amphitheatre