The War on Terror

This is an amazing movie, and I see it as incredibly applicable for our time, from color-coded danger levels and widespread government phone-tapping to politically endorsed self-righteous condemnation of all who differ from the accepted norm. It’s the old story of a government pushing their people too far, and yet they pushed the people too far “for their own safety”- think 1984 meets The Scarlet Pimpernel, with a little bit of the Handmaid’s Tale thrown in. Interestingly, it was written as a graphic novel in the eighties, and first as a screenplay in the early nineties.

High Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt) was elected to his newly created office (in much the same way as Hitler) because he promised the people protection from war, terror, and disease. He unified them under the most rigidly Christian system of virtues, promising the blessings of God for their unquestioning obedience, pointing forward to a brilliant future where England prevails over all, having cast aside her sinful, decadent past.

The hero, V (Hugo Weaving), is unquestionably a terrorist, and is somewhat superhuman- but one person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. He idolizes Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo (he’s got books and old movies and music everywhere, all contraband, and he’s always quoting from something), and is emulating Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up Parliament on November fifth in 1605. He wants to change the world, and he acknowledges the power of people, wanting to give them the strength to reclaim themselves and their freedom.

It’s a bit post-Apocalyptic, with the League of the Former United States tearing itself to pieces and desperate for medical supplies, having extended itself rather too far in the Middle East, and biological warfare having become the most effective way of conquest- as one character points out, what’s the point of leveling an entire country if you can kill all of its citizens by disease and leave their wealth intact?

Before I get too terribly long-winded, the story is really about V, our hero-terrorist, and Evie Hammond (Natalie Portman, who does not look her best with a shaved head), the feeling between them and the way in which they try to lead a nation back to itself. Evie begins the story somewhat lost and always fearful, orphaned as a child when her parents were “detained”, and she never really recovered. She goes through some pretty extreme stuff that you’ll have some mixed reactions to, but she comes through it fearless, because she knows her own strength- and no longer fears the loss of her life.

Gordon Deitrich (Steven Fry) and Chief Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) are also important characters, trying to make a life for themselves as best they can, trying to do the right thing despite everything around them. Deitrich supplies us with the only real laughs in the movie, and they are very welcome (well, V supplies some with his theatricality). The extra stories add a lot to the narrative, as does Valerie’s story when it is interjected to give strength to Evie, and even Delia Surridge’s (Sinead Cusack) quiet acceptance is a form of that strength.

There is a lot about revenge, as you can guess from the title- so it’s not all about noble objectives and freedom fighting. And there are some thoroughly despicable and unfortunately believable characters. Awful things have happened to the people in the name of protecting the nation, and V has survived that, losing himself in the process- he is going back through, retaliating for the wrongs done to him and those imprisoned with him.

The ending feels a little, I don’t know, choreographed, but it’s inspiring anyway. There’s a little bit of that all through the movie- strange coincidences, with V in the background saying that they are no such thing.

Really, it’s a movie of ambiguous morals, asking us the question- does a perceived threat really justify the loss of freedoms? It’s good entertainment at the same time, and I don’t know that it will be taken seriously enough, but I love the truth it it.

So there are some ugly spells that I would not show to children- some very Holocaust-esque scenes, and two almost forced-sex situations with some policeman and a bishop. Also, lots of killing, by gun and knife, and a flashback with a man on fire that could easily be converted into a monster under the bed, not to mention some torture of Evie. The cussing is spotty, and most of it is very British.