Netflix pick for 5/3/16 – ‘V For Vendetta’

 As heard in episode 173 of Cinema Crespodiso.

The main theme of “V For Vendetta” is that people should not be afraid of their governments, but instead governments should be afraid of their people. Written in the 1980’s as a limited series comic, and then reprinted in graphic novel form, this is the story of a dystopian future (a British one, mind you, in which Big Brother tactics are readily apparent in the real world) in which the government controls everything and dissent is quickly rooted out and squashed with vicious efficiency. That is until a mysterious masked figure known only as V (Hugo Weaving) starts wrecking havoc, trying to set an example to the citizens, showing them that an uprising is possible and that they can indeed fight back against the government that holds them all hostage. In addition to his attempts to inspire the populace at large, he also takes in a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) and makes her something of a protégé, dealing with her directly and trying to show her why he is fighting back against the fascist government that has taken over.

Initially written as a critique of Thatcherism, telling this story again in the 2000’s automatically brings up fresher associations, like the increased (and now obviously run amok) surveillance state that plagues the entire free world and how the role of government in the lives of people has become increasingly viewed as problematic, intrusive and untrustworthy. And now ten years after the movie’s release, the racism, homophobia and Islamophobia that has become so unfortunately ubiquitous in our daily public and political discourse all combine to make this story even more resonate and relevant than ever before. We now have a fascist demagogue trying to obtain power through stoking the fires of nationalism and racial purity in our own country in this foul year of our Lord 2016 and while we as a people should be rising up against this kind of rhetoric and attitude and instead we see in horror how large swaths of the population actually support this garbage, and this is how we end up with a future that would be very much like what is portrayed in “V For Vendetta.”

This movie now stands more as a warning than anything else, a cool looking and action filled warning, but a warning nonetheless. Do you want to rely on people wearing Guy Fawkes masks to help beat back the Fingermen? Or do you want to stop this neo-fascism in its tracks? That is up to you.

In the meantime, watch “V For Vendetta” here on the Netflix Instant and see if you can count how many words start with “v” in the dialogue.