V for Vendetta (2005, R)

After going back to read the graphic novel, I thought it was high time I watched this film again.  While it’s very different from the book, I still like it a lot.  In fact, I think I still might prefer it to the book, and not just because I saw it first.

As in the graphic novel, Evey Hammond’s life is forever changed by a chance encounter with an enigmatic masked man called V.  Saving her from danger at a crucial moment, V makes Evey witness to the first stage of his plan to dismantle England’s fascist government, at the same time taking his revenge on the powerful people who committed atrocities against him years before.  Evey is torn between her fear of the compelling terrorist and a desire to see the change he promises.

Like I said, there are a lot of alterations here.  Overall, the story feels much more streamlined, keeping the main focal points on Evey, V, and Finch, the investigator trying to apprehend him.  A fair amount of plot development on the other side, the goings-on of the various government departments complete with corruption, backstabbing, and secret agendas, has been excised, and for the most part, I don’t mind the loss.  However, the condensing of some big framework stuff – the backdrop on the rise of the fascist government in England, and the exploration of undesirables under the new order – feels more “bite-sized” in the movie, more simplistic with clearly-drawn lines between points A, B, and C.  In that case, the snipping doesn’t work as well for me.

V, though, is just as cool as he is in the book.  Maybe a skosh less remote, but still every bit as theatrical, complicated, and mysterious.  Hugo Weaving does a great job with the character, such that you really don’t mind that his facial expressions are hidden behind a Guy Fawkes mask the entire movie.  I think I like Evey a little better here; I spent much of the book feeling frustrated with her and wishing she was stronger.  In the film, she still goes through quite the journey and changes a lot as a character, but she starts changing in small ways almost immediately (it helps that much of the “sexual survival” stuff I complained about from the book is either gone or very understated.)  Natalie Portman balances Evey’s fragile beginnings with her endurance and powerful transformation very nicely.

Plenty of familiar British faces getting in on the action.  John Hurt himself is England’s chancellor, and between the police and the government departments, we get Roger Allam (Peter from The Thick of It,) Rupert Graves (Lestrade from Sherlock,) and Ben Miles (Patrick from Coupling.)  But for me, the supporting-character MVP is Stephen Fry as Evey’s boss, a popular media personality who’s much more than he seems at first.  He has a great scene with Evey that I remembered from my first viewing of the film, years ago, just as well as the excellently-realized big moments, like V’s opening act or the prison sequence.

Warnings

Strong violence, sexual content (including references to pedophilia,) language, and strong thematic elements (including war crimes.)

V for Vendetta (1988-1989)

I saw the film adaptation of V for Vendetta years ago and have only just read the original graphic novel.  It’s been long enough that I can’t clearly remember the complete plot of the movie, but I’m pretty sure there are some fairly big differences between the two.  While I thought the graphic novel was a good read, I recall enjoying the film better (premise spoilers.)

In a post-war-torn fascist England of the ‘90s (the future, at the time,) Evey Hammond, a desperate teenage girl, is menaced by corrupt government spies when she’s caught soliciting.  She’s rescued by V, an enigmatic masked man with a flair for theatrics, dramatic recitations, and social upheaval.  He has an intricate long-game plan to dismantle the government through acts of terrorism, with what appears to be some personal revenge thrown in.  Even as Evey is horrified by V’s actions and his dream of an anarchic state, she can’t quite bring herself to leave him or defy him.  Slowly, she’s drawn into his world and his dark vision of change.

As in the film, the best element of the graphic novel is V himself.  He’s pretty much a perfect comic book character:  cuts a dashing and iconic figure, has all the best lines, fights like a ninja, carries a mysterious past, and is always four steps ahead of everyone.  Besides his extreme readability, his character poses interesting, no-easy-answer questions about the line between a freedom fighter and a terrorist.  Although the world had a very different relationship with terrorism when the book was written, my 2016 eyes read it the only way they know how, and the notion of V’s ideas as grand, almost romantic, amid all the turmoil and killing, is uncomfortable in a mostly good way.  It helps, of course, that the government he’s trying to tear down is unapologetically fascist, and even then, the story is careful to portray him as both light and dark, the balance tipping either way from time to time. 

The depiction of a fascist England is mostly interesting as well.  I love me a good dystopian story, and I like seeing the effects the war and the regime change have had on the country.  The chapters that dig into the story’s past and explore what happened in the prison camps are especially good.  However, I’m unnerved by all the… let’s call it “sexual survival”… in the story.  In addition to Evey turning in desperation to prostitution at the beginning, we also have a woman forced into stripper work as a result of reduced circumstances, a woman using sexual manipulation to get ahead, and multiple instances of women offering their bodies to men in exchange for protection/stability.  I understand, obviously, that women have had a long history of sexual oppression, and I get that things like this would happen in a country that’s been ravaged by a war and is currently being run by a pretty soulless government, but I hate that we see these types of storylines for the female characters so repeatedly, the one-two punch of a woman looking for a man to save her and offering sex to obtain his protection.  While I like seeing Evey becoming stronger and surer under V’s tutelage, if this theme of sexual survival was going to be so prominent in the book, I would’ve liked to see a stronger rejection or defiance of it in the end.

Warnings

Strong violence (including terrorist acts,) sexual content (including sexual violence and reference to pedophilia,) language, substance abuse, disturbing images, and strong thematic elements.