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"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

That's one of the many ideology-heavy phrases used by V, the Guy Fawkes mask-wearing protagonist/villain of the Wachowski brother's latest film starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. The film, directed by James McTeigue, is a blunt and biting social commentary of the current sociopolitical landscape we live in, ripe with Orwellian themes, but often muddled and poorly edited.

Set in the future where Great Britain is lorded over by a tyrannical despot named Chancellor Adam Sutler, a not so subtle reference to Adolf Hitler (played to vain-bulging perfection by John Hurt), V is the product of a government experiment gone wrong, in which 80,000 English citizens were killed ostensibly by viruses and terorists. V seeks revenge and plans to blow up London's Parliament on November 5th to commemorate Fawke's failed attempt in 1605. The mask-wearing Weaving is mesmerizing as he eloquently quotes Shakespeare and Goethe in attempting to justify his extremism. Charming and fatalistic, we buy into his ideologies and so do the people of London, questioning their government's propaganda and coercive, oppressive methods of perpetuating an Orwellian society. Portman plays Evey, a young girl wrestling with her conscience as she slowly replaces complacency and fear with conviction. The film's cinematography is gripping and many of the scenes look like beautiful snapshots.

The problem with the film is that it does not explore the oppressive qualities of the government; instead it shows a controlled media and a curfew-obeying populace - but that's it. We are not privy to the goings-on of society and therefore do not fell a sense of urgency for its citizens. There is a snapshot story of a homosexual woman which, although important to the film, seems out of place, but everything else is vague and ambiguous. The cliched symbolism of the Fawkes masks representing unity, the explosions set to orchestra music, the prison cell tortures - these are all sensationalized to make a poignant remark about Western culture, and the fear-mongering which puts people in their places. The identity of V as either a terrorist or hero has caused controversy, not surprisingly, in light of the recent terorist attacks in America, Spain and London (the film also identifies homosexuals and Muslims as villains). But the coup de grace of the film is that it is painted in no shades of grey: it is black and white and it minces no words, walks on no eggshells. In the sinister political atmosphere of our times, it is a not-so-unlikely envisionment of what we could be creeping towards if we continually allow governments and corportations to do as they please. "V For Vendetta" is not the masterpiece it should have been, but it gets an "E" for effort.

Plus, the movie's official website is really cool.

© 2005 Aaron Bayley