Movie review
V for Vendetta
Reviewed by Diana DeFazio
Based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel (which I have not read), V for Vendetta is set in a futuristic Great Britain in the grip of a fascist police state. Government controlled airwaves, propaganda, social repression and a maniacal dictator dominate society in the year 2020. You get the idea. Evey (Natalie Portman) meets the masked vigilante “V” (Hugo Weaving) when she is out after curfew and V rescues her from a dangerous encounter with the secret police.
Initially entertained and eager to see how the heinous police state would unravel at the hands of V, I quickly discovered that Vendetta is not that brave, nor that revolutionary, nor that entertaining. And at a very particular point (spoiler ahead), I lost all respect for the film. Before I get into the details of the scene which was so pivotal to me, I should say that V for Vendetta, not surprisingly given its title, epitomizes the view that the ‘ends justify the means,’ and I am unashamedly biased against this viewpoint.
While we are urged to consider V’s ‘ideas,’ it’s what he actually does that counts. And what does he do? He tortures Evey. And why does he do it? To force her to face her own death, and in so doing to set her free so she can act against the authority that is imprisoning her and everyone else. And how does she respond when she realizes that the excruciating torture she endured was perpetrated by a supposed friend? She’s angry for an unbelievably short time and then essentially thanks him for it! And, I might add, after the torture Evey becomes V’s unquestioning and adoring ally.
I believe it is indefensible to portray torture as being good. Evey is subjected to isolation, relentless interrogation, threat of execution, hooding and submersion into water until she nearly suffocates - the same torture tactics being used in the real world this very moment in countless places and to countless people (at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, clandestine CIA “Black Sites,” and innumerable other locations known and unknown around the world).
Are we really to believe that V has done Evey a favor by torturing her? This is a particularly sinister representation of the effects of torture at a time when it is critical that the public understand what torture is and really does, and how we are implicated in its practice around the world. While I don’t doubt that suffering can lead to positive transformation for some people in some cases, torture in particular is not known to produce such results. It is well-documented that torturing a person has long lasting physical and psychological effects on the survivor. That is why specialized rehabilitation centers have been set up around the world to provide treatment to torture survivors.
You may think I’m hung up on this torture point and am taking Vendetta too seriously. But I think that the makers of the film, while injecting it with definite humor, ultimately wanted us to take it seriously. Why else would they draw so many important parallels between the past, present and future that we may be creating? The political points of Vendetta were not lost on me.
Mahatma Gandhi, who led a nonviolent revolution, said “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind,” and I agree. In the end, I just can’t rally for the masked man wielding knives, slitting throats and torturing even if he does have a great art collection. And if he is supposed to represent all of us, you and me, then all of us should be really worried.
And did I mention that Vendetta bored me, which means even if you are inclined to disagree with everything I have written up until now, for that reason alone you might want to save your money.
132 minutes, rated R