V for Vendetta (film)

V for Vendetta
IMDB Template:Rating-5 8.3/10 (64,746 votes) top 250: #129
Directed by	James McTeigue
Written by	Wachowski Brothers
Produced by	Joel Silver Wachowski Brothers Grant Hill Lorne Orleans
Starring	Natalie Portman Hugo Weaving Stephen Rea Stephen Fry John Hurt
Cinematography	Adrian Biddle
Edited by	Martin Walsh
Music by	Original Dario Marianelli Non-Original Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	17 March 2006 17 March 2006 30 March 2006 29 April 2006
Running time	132 min.
Country	UK / USA / Germany
Language	English
Budget	$54 million (US)
Box office	Domestic $70,511,035 Foreign $60,900,000 Worldwide $131,411,035

This article is about the film. For the comic book series, see V for Vendetta.

V for Vendetta is a 2006 action-thriller film set in London sometime in the near future. The film follows V, a freedom fighter who uses violence in pursuit of a personal vendetta and, above all, to force sociopolitical change in a dystopian Britain. The film is a loose adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. V for Vendetta was directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond, Hugo Weaving as V, Stephen Rea as Inspector Finch and John Hurt as Chancellor Sutler.

The film's release was originally scheduled for Friday, November 4, 2005 (a day before the 400th Guy Fawkes Night), but was delayed; it instead opened on March 17, 2006, and has been generally well-received by critics. Alan Moore, however, disassociated himself with the film, something Moore has done with all films made about his works. The filmmakers removed some of the anarchist themes and heavy references to drug use that were present in the original story and added a current political context to the film. Due to the politically sensitive content of the film, V for Vendetta has been the target of both criticism and praise from political groups.

Plot

The story is set in the near future (about 2038) when Britain is ruled by a totalitarian regime called Norsefire. It follows Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman), a young woman who, at the start of the film, is rescued from state police by a masked vigilante known as "V" (Hugo Weaving). After rescuing her, V takes Evey to a rooftop location to witness his spectacular destruction of the Old Bailey. The regime explains the incident to the public as a planned demolition, but this is shown to be a lie when V takes over the state-run TV station later that day. V broadcasts a message urging the people of Britain to rise up and stand with him at the Houses of Parliament on November 5, one year from that day. V implies that on that date he will destroy the Houses of Parliament.

Evey, who works at the TV station, helps V escape. V brings Evey to his lair, where she is told that she must stay in hiding with him for her own safety. Upon learning that V is killing government officials, she is horrified and disgusted with V's actions, vowing to escape from V, even if it means betraying and deceiving him. In an effort to escape V's lair, she briefly explains her past to V and then inquires as to whether there is anything that she could do to help. Later, he devises a plan to infiltrate the monastery where a corrupt priest is found, requiring Evey's assistance. Evey betrays V's plot to the priest but the priest doesn't believe her. After V appears, Evey escapes to the home of one of her superiors from the BTN, Gordon Deitrich (Stephen Fry), who reveals to her that he is a closet homosexual and a collector of banned art and literature. After Gordon makes a last minute change to a TV program he is hosting, in which he satirizes the High Chancellor, the state police raid Gordon's home, and Evey is captured. She is incarcerated and tortured for days, finding solace only in the notes left by another prisoner named Valerie, who was imprisoned and persecuted for being a lesbian. Evey is told that she will be executed unless she reveals V's whereabouts. An exhausted Evey says she would rather die, and, surprisingly, is then released. Evey discovers that she has been in V's lair all along, and that her imprisonment was staged by V. By forcing Evey to experience what he had gone through long ago, V hoped that Evey would understand that our integrity, "the very last inch of us", can be more important than our lives. Evey initially hates V for what he has done, but comes to realize that having faced her own death, she can now live without fear. She leaves V, promising to return before November 5.

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V and Evey Hammond in the Shadow Gallery. Evey is taken there after their escape from the BTN.

Meanwhile, Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea), through his investigation of V, learns how Norsefire came to power, and about V’s origins. Fourteen years previously, Britain had suffered from war and terrorism. The ultra-conservative Norsefire party led a reactionary purge to restore order; so-called enemies of the state disappeared during the night. The country was deeply 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 all opposition and win the next election by a landslide. A cure for the virus was discovered soon afterwards. With the silent consent of the people, Norsefire turned Britain into a bigoted totalitarian order, with their leader Adam Sutler (John Hurt) as High Chancellor.

However, the viral catastrophe had actually been engineered by Norsefire as a ploy to gain power. The virus had been engineered through deadly experimentation on "social deviants" and political dissidents at Larkhill detention center. V had been one of the prisoners, but instead of being killed by the experiments, he had gained heightened mental and physical abilities. V eventually destroyed the center and escaped, vowing to take revenge on Norsefire's regime. As November 5 nears, V's various schemes cause chaos in Britain, as the population grows more and more rebellious and subversive towards government authority. On the eve of November 5, V is again visited by Evey, and shows her a train which he has filled with explosives in order to destroy Parliament through an explosion in the abandoned London Underground. He delegates the destruction of Parliament to Evey, believing that the ultimate decision should not come from him. He then leaves to meet Party leader Creedy who, as part of an earlier agreement, has agreed to bring the Chancellor to V in exchange for V's surrender: V had manipulated Finch into putting heavy police surveillance on Creedy, and fooled Creedy into thinking that Sutler had ordered it, preparing for Creedy to take the blame should Sutler's regime ever fall. Creedy kills the Chancellor in front of V, but V does not surrender, instead killing Creedy and his men. V, mortally wounded in the fight, returns to Evey. He thanks her, professes his love for her, and then dies. His body is placed upon the train with the explosives, in a type of Viking funeral.

Evey is about to send the train down the track when she is discovered by Inspector Finch. Finch, having learned much about the corruption of the Norsefire regime, allows Evey to proceed. Meanwhile, thousands of Londoners, all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, march on Parliament to watch the event. Because Creedy and the Chancellor are dead, the military stands down in the face of a civil rebellion. Parliament is destroyed by the explosion. On a nearby rooftop Evey and Finch watch the scene together and hope for a better tomorrow. Template:Endspoilers

Development

The film was made by many of the same filmmakers involved in the Matrix trilogy. In 1988, producer Joel Silver acquired the rights to two of Alan Moore's texts: V for Vendetta and Watchmen. The Wachowski brothers were fans of V for Vendetta and in the mid-1990's, before working on The Matrix, wrote a draft screenplay that closely followed the graphic novel. During the post-production of the second and third Matrix films, the Wachowski brothers revisited the screenplay and offered the director's role to James McTeigue and Pedro Esteves. All three were intrigued by the theme of the original story and found them to be relevant to the current political landscape. Upon revisiting the screenplay, the Brothers set about making revisions to condense and modernize the story, while at the same time attempting to preserve its integrity and themes.

Moore explicitly disassociated himself from the film, continuing a series of disputes over film adaptations of his work. He ended cooperation with his publisher, DC Comics, after its corporate parent, Warner Bros., failed to retract statements about Moore's supposed endorsement of the film. Moore said that the script contained plot holes and that it ran contrary to the theme of his original work, which was to place two political extremes (fascism and anarchism) against one another. He argues his work had been recast as a story about "current American neo-conservatism vs. current American liberalism". As per his wishes, Moore's name does not appear in the film's closing credits. Meanwhile, co-creator and illustrator David Lloyd supports the film adaptation, commenting that the script is very good and that Moore would only ever be truly happy with a complete book-to-screen adaptation.

Production

V for Vendetta was filmed in London, UK and in Potsdam, Germany at Babelsberg Studios. Much of the film was shot on sound stages and indoor sets, with location work done in Berlin for three scenes: the Norsefire rally flashback, Larkhill, and Bishop Lilliman’s bedroom. The scenes that took place in the abandoned London Underground were filmed at the disused Aldwych tube station. Filming began in early March, 2005, and principal photography officially wrapped in early June of 2005. V for Vendetta is the final film shot by cinematographer Adrian Biddle, who died of a heart attack on December 7 2005.

The film was designed to have a future-retro look, with a heavy use of grey tones to give a dreary, stagnant feel to totalitarian London. The largest set created for the film was the Shadow Gallery, which was made to feel like a cross between a crypt and an undercroft. The Gallery is V's home as well as the place where he stores various artifacts forbidden by the government. Some of the works of art displayed in the gallery include The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian, a Mildred Pierce poster, St. Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna and The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse.

One of the major challenges in the film was how to bring V to life from under an expressionless mask. Thus, considerable effort was made to bring together lighting, acting and Weaving's voice to create the proper mood for the situation. In order to prevent the mask from muffling Weaving's voice, a microphone was placed in his hairline to aid post-production, when his entire dialogue was re-recorded.

To film the final scene at Westminster, the area from Trafalgar Square and Whitehall up to Parliament and Big Ben had to be closed for three nights from 12–5 a.m., and the crew was only allowed to stop traffic for four minutes at a time. This was the first time the security-sensitive area (home to 10 Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence) had ever been closed to accommodate filming. Prime Minister Tony Blair's son Euan Blair worked on the film's production and is said (through an interview with Stephen Fry) to have helped the filmmakers obtain the unparalleled filming access. This drew criticism for Blair from MP David Davis due to the content of the film. However, the makers of the film deny Euan Blair's involvement in the deal, stating that access was acquired through nine months of negotiations with 14 different government departments and agencies.

Cast

• Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond: Director James McTeigue first met Portman on the set of Attack of the Clones, where he worked with her as assistant director. In preparing for the role, Portman worked with dialectologist Barbara Berkery in order to perform with an English accent. She also studied films like The Weather Underground and read the autobiography of Menachem Begin. Portman received top billing for the film and is the only American cast member.

• Hugo Weaving as V: James Purefoy was originally cast as V but left six weeks into filming due to difficulties wearing the mask for the entire film. He was replaced by Hugo Weaving, who previously worked with Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers on The Matrix trilogy as Agent Smith. However, parts of the film still contain scenes from Purefoy with only a voiceover from Weaving. When taking into account the stunt men who also played V, there were actually several people who played V in the film.

• Stephen Rea as Chief Inspector Eric Finch: Eric Finch is technically the Chief Constable of the English police force, nicknamed "the Nose". However, the title "Chief Constable" has since fallen out of favour in Britain after one protested the Reclamation. Finch's Irish background causes his loyalties to be questioned by Creedy. Actor Stephen Rea is also Irish and, interestingly, was once married to Dolours Price, a former member of the IRA, imprisoned for bombing the Old Bailey.

• John Hurt as High Chancellor Adam Sutler: A former Conservative MP and Under-Secretary for Defence, Sutler founded Norsefire which won a landslide election victory after (staged) terrorist attacks weakened confidence in the government. Sutler was appointed to a new office of High Chancellor, becoming the de facto dictator of Britain. Playing Chancellor Sutler was a complete role reversal for John Hurt, as he played the part of Winston Smith, a victim of the state in the film adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

• Stephen Fry as Gordon Deitrich: Talk show host Gordon Deitrich is a closeted homosexual who, due to the restrictions of the regime, has "lost his appetite" over the years. This has some parallels with Stephen Fry, who is also homosexual and had famously practiced a celibate lifestyle for over 16 years. When asked in an interview what he liked about the role, Stephen replied, "Being beaten up! I hadn't been beaten up in a movie before and I was very excited by the idea of being clubbed to death."

• Sinead Cusack as Dr. Delia Surridge: Dr. Surridge was the head physician at the Larkhill detention centre. V states that the torture and death at Larkhill was only possible because of her research. She apologises to V before she dies.

• John Standing as Bishop Anthony James Lilliman: Lilliman is a corrupt pedophile bishop at Westminster Abbey, installed into this position by Sutler. In regards to his role as Lilliman, Standing remarks, "I thoroughly enjoyed playing Lilliman... because he's slightly comic and utterly atrocious. Lovely to do."

• Tim Pigott-Smith as Peter Creedy: Creedy is both Norsefire's party leader and the head of Britain's Secret Police, the Finger. While Sutler is the Chancellor, the real power of the regime lies with Creedy.

• Rupert Graves as Dominic Stone: Dominic is Inspector Finch’s lieutenant in the V investigation.

• Natasha Wightman as Valerie Page: Born in 1985, Valerie starred in her first film, The Salt Flats, in 2015. Three years later, her partner, Ruth, was imprisoned by the government and Valerie was taken shortly afterwards. She was imprisoned at Larkhill (in the cell next to V) and her autobiography inspired V to take vengeance on the state. Valerie's symbolic role as a victim of the state was received positively by many LGBT critics. Film critic Michael Jensen praised the extraordinarily powerful moment of Valerie's scene "not just because it is beautifully acted and well-written, but because it is so utterly unexpected [in a Hollywood film]."

• Roger Allam as Lewis Prothero: Lewis Prothero, "The Voice of London" (originally known as "The Voice of Fate,") is the mouthpiece of Norsefire's propaganda division. Prior to becoming "The Voice of London", he was fabulously wealthy by being a major stockholder of the pharmaceutical company that "developed" the cure for the St. Mary's virus. He also served in the Middle East, in nations with high political tensions.

• Ben Miles as Roger Dascombe: Though never explicitly mentioned in the film, Dascombe is Sutler's head of the propaganda division, "the Mouth".

• Eddie Marsan as Brian Etheridge: Etheridge is the head of "the Ear", the audio-surveillance division. The division is responsible for random audio sweeps and phone surveillance.

• Guy Henry as Conrad Heyer: Heyer is the head of "the Eye", the visual-surveillance division.

• Clive Ashborn as Guy Fawkes: The story of Guy Fawkes is described in the beginning of the film and serves as the historical inspiration for V.

Publicity and release

File:Natalie Portman at Comic Con 2005.jpg

Natalie Portman speaking at the 2005 San Diego Comic-con.

The cast and filmmakers attended several press conferences that allowed them to address issues surrounding the film, including its authenticity, Alan Moore's reaction to it and its intended political message. The responses given at the conferences made it clear that the film was intended to be a departure from some of Moore's original themes. In the words of Hugo Weaving: "Alan Moore was writing about something which happened some time ago. It was a response to living in Thatcherite England... This is a response to the world in which we live today. So I think that the film and the graphic novel are two separate entities." Regarding the controversial political content in the film the filmmakers have said that the film is intended more to raise questions and add to a dialogue already present in society, rather than provide answers or tell viewers what to think.

The film takes extensive imagery from the infamous 1605 Gunpowder Plot, where a group of Catholic conspirators plotted to destroy the Houses of Parliament in order to spark a revolution in England. The film was originally scheduled for release on the weekend of November 5 2005, the 400th anniversary of the Plot, with the tag line "Remember, remember the 5th of November", taken from a traditional British rhyme memorializing the event. However, the marketing angle lost much of its value when the release date was pushed back to March 17 2006. Many have speculated that the delay was due to the London tube bombings on July 7 and 21. The film-makers have denied this, saying that the delays were from the need for more time in order to finish the visual effects production. V for Vendetta had its first major premiere on February 13 at the Berlin Film Festival. It opened for general release on March 17 2006 in 3,365 theatres in the United States, the United Kingdom and six other countries. Major theatres decorated the exterior of their buildings with Norsefire flags.

Music

Main article: V for Vendetta (soundtrack)

The V for Vendetta soundtrack was released by Astralwerks Records on March 21 2006. The original scores from the film's composer, Dario Marianelli, make up most of the tracks on the album. The soundtrack also features three vocals played during the film: "Cry Me A River" by Julie London, "I Found A Reason" by Cat Power and "Bird Gerhl" by Antony and the Johnsons. These songs were a sample of the 872 blacklisted tracks on V's Wurlitzer jukebox that V "reclaimed" from the Ministry of Objectionable Materials. The climax of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture appears at the end of the track "Knives and Bullets (and Cannons too)". The revolutionary sounding Overture is played at key parts at the beginning and end of the film.

Three songs were played during the ending credits which were not included on the V for Vendetta soundtrack. The first was "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones. The second was a special version of Ethan Stoller's "BKAB". In keeping with revolutionary tone of the film, excerpts from "On Black Power" by black nationalist leader Malcolm X, and from "Address to the Women of America" by feminist-writer Gloria Steinem were added to the song. Gloria Steinem can be heard saying: "This is no simple reform... It really is a revolution. Sex and race, because they are easy and visible differences, have been the primary ways of organizing human beings into superior and inferior groups and into the cheap labour on which this system still depends." The final song was "Out of Sight" by Spiritualized. Also in the film were segments from two of Antonio Carlos Jobim's classic bossa nova songs, "The Girl From Ipanema" and "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars". These songs were played during the "breakfast scenes" with V and Deitrich and were one of the ways used to tie the two characters together. Beethoven's Symphony No.5 also plays an important role in the film, with the first four notes of the song signifying the letter "V" in Morse code. Gordon Deitrich's Benny Hill-styled comedy sketch of Chancellor Sutler includes the "Yakety Sax" theme. Amusingly, Inspector Finch's alarm clock begins the evening of 4 November with the song "Long Black Train" by Richard Hawley, which contains the foreshadowing lyrics "Ride the long black train... take me home black train."

Differences between the film and graphic novel

For more information: V for Vendetta.

File:Vendetta8comiccover.jpg

Alan Moore's original story is darker, with a greater emphasis on anarchist themes.

The film's story was adapted from an Alan Moore comic originally published between 1982 and 1985 in the British comic anthology Warrior. These comics were later compiled into a graphic novel and published again in the United States under DC's Vertigo imprint and in the United Kingdom under Titan Books. Even though the film is based on the graphic novel, there are several key differences between the two that make them fundamentally different from one another. For example, Alan Moore's original story was created as a response to British Thatcherism in the early '80s and was set as a conflict between a fascist state and anarchism, whereas the film's story has been changed by the Wachowskis to fit a modern political context. Alan Moore charges that in doing so, the story has turned into an American-centric conflict between liberalism and neo-conservatism, and abandons the original anarchist-fascist themes. Furthermore, in the original story, Moore attempted to maintain moral ambiguity, and not to portray the fascists as caricatures, but as realistic, rounded characters . The time limitations of a film meant that the story had to omit or streamline some of the characters, details and plotlines from the original story.

• While V is characterized as a romantic freedom fighter in the film, he is portrayed as an anarchist with questionable tendencies in the graphic novel. He neither cooks breakfast for Evey, nor is he concerned about the loss of innocent life.

• Evey Hammond undergoes a more drastic change in the novel than she does in the film. At the beginning of the film, she is already a rather confident woman with a hint of rebellion in her, whereas in the graphic novel she starts off as an insecure, desperate young woman. By the end of the graphic novel, not only does she carry out V’s plans as she does in the film, but she also clearly takes on V’s identity after his death.

• While the film portrays the Chancellor as a power hungry totalitarian figure, the graphic novel paints him as a sympathetic and troubled character.

• In the graphic novel, a global nuclear war has destroyed Continental Europe and Africa, but has spared Britain. However, Britain stands isolated, and with a nuclear winter causing famine and massive flooding, there is a real fear that a collapse of the government would lead to disaster, making V’s efforts to destroy the regime even more questionable. In contrast to this, where the government came into power as a necessity and was sustained by the apathy that society then fell into, in the film they are presented as having orchestrated their rise to power through deceit and death, manufacturing a biological weapon which they cured, securing their victory in the election. The film mentions riots and chaos in America (which the Norsefire government uses to remind British subjects of the dangers of anarchy) but makes no mention of global nuclear war or nuclear winter. In fact, the Britain of the film seems rather comfortably well-off and the average standard of living seems nearly identical to the real modern Britain, aside from an apparent shortage of real butter.

• The Conservative Party in the film is largely based on present day fears of an extremist police state, whereas Norsefire in the original story is based on a fascist regime closer to that of the Nazi Party. In both stories Norsefire/Conservative Party actively participates in the systematic elimination of racial minorities, homosexuals, and political dissidents from society. But whereas the Conservative Party also targets Muslims, Norsefire is explicitly focused on the protection of racial purity. Despite playing down racial elements of the regime, the film retains the Aryan super-hero Storm Saxon.

• In the graphic novel, the Chancellor is named Adam Susan, whereas in the movie he is called Adam Sutler, which is a combination of the names "Susan" and "Hitler".

• Several characters were completely omitted from the film, including Ms Almond, Harper, and Mrs Heyer.

• The computer system "Fate" is completely missing from the film. (In the original story, Fate was a Big-Brother-like computer which served as Norsefire's eyes and ears and also helped explain how V could see and hear the things he did.)

• V's terrorist targets are different in the graphic novel, as he destroys The Palace of Westminster and the Old Bailey in the beginning, as well at the Post Office Tower (while conducting the 1812 Overture), and destroys 10 Downing Street for the finale. Finally, whereas the film ends in a relatively peaceful overthrow, in the graphic novel there is a violent collapse of authority.

• In the film, Lewis Prothero was a radical television personality that dealt out personal opinion on a racist scale on television, inciting people to be wary of foreigners, as the "Voice of London". In the graphic novel, however, Mr. Prothero, is the "Voice of Fate" and was only broadcast on radio, leading the public to believe that his was the voice of the computer Fate.

• In the film, Evey works for the 'BTN' (British Television Network), in the novel, she states that she works at a munitions factory and tries to work as a prostitute to make enough money for food.

• In the novel, Gordon Deitrich is a heterosexual man who lives in a simple basic house, and has a romantic/sexual relationship with Evey after taking her in once V has seemingly abandoned her. In the film, he is Evey's boss and superior at 'BTN', and is a closet homosexual who lives more lavishly, with a vast collection of banned works of human recreation, and displays interest in Evey to cover his own true identity, as he fears the backlash of the homophobic government, and takes Evey in immediately after her incident with Bishop Lilliman.

• Also in the graphic novel, Mr. Prothero was not killed in his home but was kidnapped by V and subjected to a reconstruction of Larkhill Detention facility and is driven incurably insane by the destruction of his vast doll collection in the same manner that prisoners were killed under his command. In the film, no mention is made of his dolls, and he is killed in his home, however it is possible to see some of his dolls in the sequence in the shower.

• Near the end of the film, Creedy kills Sutler and his men then fire on V. In the novel, the omitted character Rose Almond kills the Leader as he steps out of a car to speak to the public, and Mr Finch mortally wounds V in a showdown in the underground.

• In the film, the rose which Valerie loved, and which V cultivated is a fictional "Scarlett Carson", whereas in the novel the rose is a Violet Carson which actually exists.

• In the film, when V is lay dead in the Underground train, he is surrounded by Scarlett Carsons, but in the novel he is surrounded by lilies.

• In the novel, Mr Finch takes LSD whilst at Larkhill's ruins to try and understand V's thinking, and goes on a major 'trip' where he imagines himself incarcerated as V, and how it felt to be imprisoned, to escape, and to be free, and where V may have gone. In the movie, he simply visits the old site, though he tells Dominic afterwards that he had a feeling that he could see everything that had and was going to happen.

• In the movie, "St Mary's Virus" has killed thousands of the population, and there is no talk of nuclear fallout. Such a virus doesn't exist in the novel.

• In the movie, when Evey is imprisoned, she only ever sees one person at a time, played by V in disguise, but in the novel, she often has several people around her, but it is later revealed that they are mannequins with speakers hanging around their necks.

• In the novel, when V takes over the televisions and the large screen in Piccadilly Circus, he talks to the public as the whole of mankind, as though mankind has been taken into an office by the boss and been given a warning and complained about, as though all human life and events are a "job" which the human race are undertaking; in the film he has a new speech with inspiration from a speech later in the novel, in which V takes over the radio and pretends to be the "Voice of Fate".

• In the novel, the slogan for the Norsefire regime is "Strength through Purity, Purity through Faith", whereas in the film it is "Strength through Unity, Unity through Faith."

• In the graphic novel, Dascombe is set up as a dummy when V takes over the television studio and is killed by the police. In the film, Dascombe is not present in the studio when V takes over, though the police still wound an executive wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.

Themes

The film V for Vendetta can be viewed in the tradition of the other cautionary dystopian stories like It Can't Happen Here and Nineteen Eighty-Four, with the addition of some Matrix-style action elements. The story retains some of the anarchist themes of the original story and turns them into a medium for examining topics of terrorism and state control within a modern context. On a theatrical level, V for Vendetta sets the Gunpowder Plot as the V’s historical inspiration, contributing to his choice of timing, language and appearance. (For example, V adopts the identity of a dead man called Rookwood, named for Ambrose Rokewood; colleagues of this "Rookwood" mentioned in the film are called Percy and Keyes, also the names of Gunpowder Plotters). Evey and V’s relationship contain many of the romantic elements from the Phantom of the Opera, where the masked Phantom takes Christine Daaé to his lair in order to reeducate her. Revenge is a central motivation for V and the film makes explicit connections to similar themes in the Count of Monte Cristo. The film also incorporates the idea of V as the embodiment of an idea rather than an individual, minimizing V's past, and giving the viewer no glimpse of a humanizing face.

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The Norsefire Party takes totalitarian imagery from many sources: fictional and non-fictional.

As a film about the struggle between freedom and the state, V for Vendetta takes imagery from many classic totalitarian icons both real and fictional, including Nazi Germany, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Book of Revelation and popular conspiracy theories relating to the Illuminati and the New World Order. The leader Adam Sutler (whose name was changed from "Susan" to resemble more closely Adolf Hitler, with whom the film's directors were seeking to draw parallels) primarily appears on large video screens and on portraits in people's homes, reminiscent of Big Brother. There is also the state's Orwellian use of mass surveillance, such as closed-circuit television, on its citizens. (Britain currently has the world's highest concentration of CCTV.) Valerie was sent to a detention facility for being a lesbian and then had medical experiments performed on her, similar to Nazi Germany's treatment of gays during the Holocaust. The Aryan-sounding Norsefire regime also uses red and black as their party colours, similar to the Nazi party. Norsefire has also replaced St George's Cross with the Cross of Lorraine as their Nordic-style national symbol. This was a symbol used by Free French Forces during World War II, as it was a traditional symbol of French patriotism that could be used as an answer to the Nazi's Swastika. The media is also portrayed as highly subservient to government propaganda, a characteristic of totalitarian regimes in general. A Biblical reference can be found in the montage of news stories ordered by Sutler; war (a "second civil war" in America), famine (domestic water shortages), pestilence (avian flu) and death (a pathogen outbreak).

Modern fears of totalitarianism

We felt the novel was very prescient to how the political climate is at the moment. It really showed what can happen when society is ruled by government, rather than the government being run as a voice of the people. I don't think it’s such a big leap to say that things like that can happen when leaders stop listening to the people.

— Director James McTeigue

With the intention of making the film relevant to today’s audience, the filmmakers included many modern day references as well. For example, the culture of fear montage of news stories ordered by Sutler contains references to an avian flu pandemic. There is also pervasive use of biometric identification and signal-intelligence gathering and analysis by the regime. Many have also noted the numerous references in the film to events surrounding the current American administration. These include the "black bags" worn by the prisoners in Larkhill that have been seen as a reference to the black bags worn by prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Also London is under a yellow-coded curfew alert, similar to the U.S. Government's colour-coded Homeland Security Advisory System. One of the forbidden items in Gordon's secret basement is a protest poster with a mixed U.S.–UK flag with a swastika and the title "Coalition of the Willing, To Power." This is likely a reference to the real "Coalition of the Willing" that was formed for the Iraq War. (At the same time, it also appears to be a reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of Will to Power). As well, there is use of the term "rendition" in the film, in reference to the way the regime removes undesirables from society. There is even a brief scene (during the Valerie flashback) that contains real-life footage of an anti-Iraq war demonstration, with mention of President George W. Bush. Finally, the film contains references to "America's war" and "the war America started" as well as real footage from the Iraq War.

In the film it is discovered that the fictional fascist government used a biological agent against its own population. Placed in the contemporary context of the film, this is a reference to the current 9/11 conspiracy theories, and certainly a parallel to the burning of the Reichstag in the Weimar Republic.

Much of the modern U.S. imagery is personified in the character Lewis Prothero. For example, his combat record seems to be an allusion to the war in Iraq and other parts of the Middle-East with strong political tensions ("Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria: before and after, Sudan"). As the talk show host “The Voice of London”, Prothero evokes the image of conservative American pundits like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, (particularly with Prothero's and Limbaugh's drug use). Furthermore, with his rhetoric about God, gays, and Muslims, Prothero is likely a caricature of religious right-wing commentators like Pat Robertson. (Prothero mentions that the U.S. itself has collapsed due to "Godlessness").

Despite the American specific references, the filmmakers have always referred to the film as adding dialogue to a set of issues much broader than the U.S. administration. When James McTeigue was asked whether or not BTN was based on Fox News McTeigue replied, "Yes. But not just Fox. Everyone is complicit in this kind of stuff. It could just as well been the British Sky News Channel."

The letter V and the number 5

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.

— V's introduction to Evey

File:VdaggersVforVendetta.JPG

In his battle with Creedy, V primes his daggers into the letter "V" before throwing them.

There is repeated reference to the symbol “V”, as both letter and number, throughout the film. For example, V's introductory monologue to Evey (above) begins and ends with “V”, has five sentences, and contains the letter "V" 53 times. Also, on the subject of Evey, "E" is the fifth letter of the alphabet and similarly, the letter "V" is the number 5 in Roman numerals, count the alphabet backwards and you'll also end up with "V" as the fifth number. The pronuncation of "Evey" is accentuating on respectively "E" and "V", both their names combined in one name. Similar references are made through V's background, choice of words and action. V is held in Larkhill cell number “V”. A favourite Latin phrase of V's is from Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: "Vi veri veniversum vivus vici" ("By the power of truth, I, a living man, have conquered the universe"). In a dance with Evey, the song V chooses is number five on his jukebox, though all the songs on his jukebox are numbered "5". When V confronts Creedy in his home, he plays Beethoven's Symphony No.5, whose opening notes have a rhythmic pattern that resembles the letter “V” in Morse code (···–). The Symphony's opening was used as a call-sign in the European broadcasts of the BBC during World War II in reference to Winston Churchill's “V for Victory”. The film's title itself, is also a reference to “V for Victory”. In the battle with Creedy and his men at Victoria station, V forms the letter “V” with his daggers just before he throws them. The daggers each spin 5 times before embedding themselves in Creedy's bodyguards. After the battle, when V is mortally wounded, he leaves a “V” signature in his own red blood. The Londoners, descending on Parliament in V costumes, approach on streets which meet and form a V. The destruction of Parliament results in a display of fireworks which form the letter “V” (just like at the beginning with Old Bailey), which is also an inverted red-on-black “A” symbol for anarchy. Like the Old Bailey and Larkhill, Parliament was destroyed on the fifth of November (the only month on the calendar to contain the letter "V"). However, this not only symbolizes the relationship between the number 5 and the letter V, as it commemorates the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar of the House of Lords with 1800 pounds of explosives. Also, Big Ben shows the start of the group of V's at 11:05 p.m., creating a giant V on the clock face as well as referencing Guy Fawkes day (11-05). When Evey is brought to confess for the first time, the background light is shown diagonal to show the left side of a V, and the opposite when Evey refused to confess at the end. Also, the title itself "V for Vendetta", is made up of 5 syllables. Template:Endspoilers

Critical reaction and box office

As of August 2006, V for Vendetta has grossed (USD) $70,511,035 in the United States and $60,900,000 internationally, for a worldwide gross of $131,411,035. The film led the United States box office on its opening day, taking in an estimated $8,742,504 and remained the number one film for the remainder of the weekend, taking in an estimated total of $25,642,340. Its closest rival, Failure to Launch, took in $15,604,892. The film debuted at number one in South Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Singapore and the Philippines. Despite the film taking place in the UK, the film did not reach number one at the UK box office on opening weekend; instead, The Pink Panther took the number one spot. V for Vendetta also opened in 56 IMAX theaters in North America, grossing $1.36 million during the opening three days.

The critical reception of the film was mostly positive with the film review collection website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 75% Fresh approval. Ebert & Roeper gave the film two thumbs up with Roger Ebert stating that V for Vendetta "almost always has something going on that is actually interesting, inviting us to decode the character and plot and apply the message where we will." Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton from At the Movies state that despite the problem of never seeing Hugo's face, there was good acting and an interesting plot, adding that the film is also disturbing, with scenes reminiscent of Nazi Germany. The BBC's Jonathan Ross, a keen fan of the graphic novel, blasted the film, calling it a "woeful, depressing failure" and stating that the "cast of notable and familiar talents such as John Hurt and Stephen Rea stand little chance amid the wreckage of the Wachowski siblings' dismal script and its particularly poor dialogue." David Benby of the New Yorker calls the film "a dunderheaded pop fantasia", while Harry Guerin from RTÉ states the film "works as a political thriller, adventure and social commentary and it deserves to be seen by audiences who would otherwise avoid any/all of the three", adding that the film will become "a cult favourite whose reputation will only be enhanced with age".

As of October 17th 2006, V for Vendetta was listed in the top 250 films as voted on by IMDb members, occupying the 127th position.

Comments from political sources

V for Vendetta deals with issues of race, sexuality, religion, totalitarianism, and terrorism. Its controversial story line and themes have, inevitably, made it the target of both criticism and praise from different sociopolitical groups.

An anarchist group in New York City has used the film's release to gain publicity for anarchism as a political philosophy. However, the group felt that the film waters down the anarchist message from the original story in order to satisfy mass Hollywood audiences, and instead focuses on destruction without proposing any alternatives. Despite the lack of acceptance by some anarchists, the film has brought renewed interest to Alan Moore's original story, as sales of the original graphic novel rose dramatically in the United States, placing the book firmly in the top sales at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Many libertarians, especially at the Mises Institute's LewRockwell.com see the film as a positive depiction in favour of a free society with limited government and free enterprise, citing the state's terrorism as being of greater evil and rationalized by its political machinery, while V's acts are seen as 'terroristic' because they are done by a single individual. Justin Raimondo, the libertarian editor of Antiwar.com, praised the film for its sociopolitical self-awareness and saw the film’s success as "helping to fight the cultural rot that the War Party feeds on".

Several conservative Christian groups were critical of the film's negative portrayal of a theocracy and sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality and Islam. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, called V for Vendetta "a vile, pro-terrorist piece of neo-Marxist, left-wing propaganda filled with radical sexual politics and nasty attacks on religion and Christianity". Don Feder, a conservative columnist from Frontpage Magazine has called V for Vendetta "the most explicitly anti-Christian movie to date." Meanwhile, LGBT commentators have praised the film for its positive depiction of gays, with writer Michael Jensen calling the film "one of the most pro-gay ever".

Dave Saldana from the left-wing media group ZNet says that the regime's treachery could have “come from today's newspaper [citing] secret tribunals, secret prisons, political scapegoats 'disappeared' and tortured, a too-cozy relationship between Big Business and government, TV blowhards and corrupt religious leaders helping the government do its dirty work, and a ruthless political henchman pulling the strings.” However, David Walsh from the World Socialist Web Site criticizes V's actions as "antidemocratic" and cites the film as an example of "the bankruptcy of anarcho-terrorist ideology" stating that because the people have not played any part in the revolution, they will be unable to produce a "new, liberated society."

The film was forbidden for public presentation in Belarus for political reasons and possible analogies between the regime described in the film and that of Alexander Lukashenko.

DVD release

V For Vendetta was released on DVD on August 1, 2006 in three formats: a single-disc wide-screen version, a single-disc full-screen version, and a two-disc wide-screen special edition. The single disc versions contain only a short behind-the-scenes featurette, where-as the two-disc special edition contains three additional featurettes and a few extra features for collectors. On the second disc of the special edition, a short clip of Natalie Portman on Saturday Night Live can be viewed by selecting the picture of wings on the second page of the menu. This is known as an Easter egg.

Best Buy, Circuit City and Target each offered exclusive collectibles with their two-disc special edition copies of V For Vendetta. Best Buy offered an all-out collector's set, which contained four limited-edition art prints, a half scale (1:2) replica of V's mask, and a display box. Circuit City and Target both offered a limited-edition slip sleeve with a lenticular cover and a 64-page excerpt of the graphic novel.

Australian retailer EzyDVD offers the two-disc wide-screen special edition in its own tin collectors case. In the United Kingdom, the two disc edition is only available at high street retailer HMV, as the slipcase edition with the 64 page excerpt of the graphic novel. Singapore has originally banned the DVD for "anti-Christian" reasons. However, a censored version was released for the Region 3.

External links

• Official V for Vendetta site at Warner Brothers
• V for Vendetta at Dmoz Open Directory Project
• V for Vendetta at IMDb
• V for Vendetta at Rotten Tomatoes
• V for Vendetta review at rogerebert.com
• V for Vendetta review at Reelviews.net
• Early undated V for Vendetta screenplay by the Wachowski brothers at imsb.com