[v for vendetta] two years too late

All right, this blog is two years too late but better late than never. The film V for Vendetta has many disquietening aspects before it gets to the plot. One is the hype, the marketing, right down to V capes and swords and the poster looks like something from the socialist left.

The basic premise is sound though and not so far away from Brown's Britain today. Those surveillance cameras, the detector vans, the government lies, the heavily controlled society, the bureaucratic obstacles to any progress and the everyday feel to the office scenes - they're already present.

The takeover by the messiah who comes in to mop up the mess his cronies induced, asking for a pledge of allegiance from the people - that's still a short way down the track and in the film, was almost cartoonish Hitler. The way he got to power, you'll recall was:

The country was divided over the loss of freedom until a bioterrorist attack occurred, killing about 100,000 people. The fear generated by the attack allowed Norsefire to silence opposition and win the next election by a landslide. A cure for the virus was discovered soon afterwards by a Norsefire company.

Point of interest:

Tony Blair's son Euan Blair worked on the film's production and is said (according to an interview with Stephen Fry) to have helped the filmmakers obtain the unparalleled filming access. This drew criticism of Blair from MP David Davis due to the content of the film.

I didn't see it as party political but rather what does happen in the end, once the ordinary person gets the catalyst to move from victim to avenger. A totalitarian state is a wasteful state, as huge amounts of resources are required to spy on, incarcerate and mistreat its population and Gordon must know that already there is more than an undercurrent of discontent.

He probably really believes he is actually doing good for his country, unaware of the true state of affairs but surely something inside him must tell him to be worried. Then again, people have still not been pushed enough to make that jump across the victim/hunter barrier.

That requires a catalyst, someone who can motivate, mobilize, give a nation back its heart. As DK wrote in his review of a review of the film:

This is what V manages to do: he not only makes people understand what has been done to them (one of the hardest tasks) but he unites people in indignation and gives them the inspiration to do something about it. It is for that reason that I find V For Vendetta so very uplifting.

He does that for me too and yes, DK - it is well nigh impossible to get people to see what they are really up against until the time has come.