V for Vengeance

I didn't know what Vendetta mean when I heard the name of the movie. But now I do. I also know its power!

As I write this, a few of the movie scenes flash through my mind - V's crazy introductory monologue, his revolutionary speech, the kind of rebirth of Evey, the fall of the dominoes, and the final fight scene!

The movie, obviously, has the theme of anarchy vs dictatorship. Some would say that is all there is in the movie? But I disagree. Because if that's the case, people will start seeing their own government as a dictating regime, seeking absolute freedom for themselves.

But is it really this, the movie or the novel wanted to convey?

The government shown in the movie back-stabbed their own people. That's the government V is fighting against. One that was so hungry for power, that they killed their own people, to induce in them the fear!

This reminded me of Hitler and Holocaust. I don't know much about it, and this topic is what there is next on my list, with a few documentaries including Third Reich: The Rise and Fall, Banking with Hitler, and Adolf Hitler - The Greatest Story Never Told.

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But there is more. There are many a elements in the movie that makes it this awesome.

One is the evolution of ideas. The lines in the very first few minutes had me engaged. We all have experienced the power of ideas, at some point. These are the very same ideas that shaped the world, for both good and bad.

I would just quote those lines from the movie!

I've witnessed first hand the power of ideas, I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them... but you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it... ideas do not bleed, they do not feel pain, they do not love... And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man..

And then at the very end, these lines by V speaks of the influence of an idea on the people who believe in them!

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof.

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And then the part of the movie where Evey Hammond is in prison. When V told him that she was not in any real prison, and he made all this up to remove her fear, the feelings of her when she feels the rain reminded me of Batman.

Isn't it the same theme going all around? The only way not to let our fears overpower us, is to face them.

When death was seeing her in her face, she was calm. I felt a little disturbed. She found an idea to cling to, which was more to her than her life!

And then her feelings when V set her free. That reminded V of his own feelings when he became free. To put it simply, God is in the rain.

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The killings of people belonging to other religions, and homosexuals felt disgusting. The story of Valerie was moving. How come being a homosexual was a crime? These words couldn't feel more real.

I remember how "different" became dangerous.

And the way the news was being fabricated by the media is something even we can relate to. There can't be any other time where keeping our eyes and ears open could be more important.

His remark on the power of words was something to think about.

Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth.

There were many other lines in the movie that were really deep. I am just quoting here a few of them, just as a reminder to self.

[1] ...A building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by people. Alone, a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world.

[2] Your own father said that artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.

[3] Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici. By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

[4] Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch we are free.

.. Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An Inch, it is small and it is fragile, but it is the only thing the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.

I couldn't resist myself from quoting the mentioned quotes of Shakespeare.

V: [V interrupts the three policemen about to rape Evey, whips out a dagger, and quoting the sergeant from Macbeth Act I Scene 2] "The multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him
[skips 4 lines from the original Shakespeare]

V: disdaining fortune/with his brandish'd steel, which smoked with bloody execution...?

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V: [Quoting Polonius from Shakespeare's Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1] We are oft to blame in this, - / 'Tis too much proved - that with devotion's visage/ And pious action we do sugar o'er/ The devil himself.

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V: And thus I clothe my naked villainy / With old odd ends stolen forth from holy writ/And seem a saint when most I play the devil.
[quoting Shakespeare's Richard III, Act I Scene 3]

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V: [Quoting Viola from Twelfth Night Act I Scene 2] Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my intent.

and finally the lines that even I have to say the generations that went by, and the ones who remain in the future, the people I will never meet.

Even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you.