V for Vendetta

“Remember remember the fifth of November gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason should ever be forgot.” In London, this rhythm has much more meaning to it than what you think. On the fifth of November in 1605, Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder. He was tried as a traitor against his country and for plotting a terroristic attack against his government. Guy was sentenced to death and the form of the execution was one of the most horrendous that has ever been done. The movie V for Vendetta is based off of that tragedy. I thought this film was simply amazing. With all the symbols and fascism, it really does put more meaning to the movie.

From the very beginning of this movie, you are hooked. It is filled with so much action and mystery that you won’t want to look away. The main actors in this movie are V (Hugo Weaving) and Evey (Natalie Portman). The government in London is basically going crazy. They thought that their country would be better off with a curfew, so they had guys called “fingermen” out on the streets watching for people who were out past curfew. Natalie was one of those people who got caught and the figermen were going to do some awful things to her, if it wasn’t for “V” it would have happened. That is how V and Natalie meet and after that, they become very close, even though, they don’t know anything about each other. He helps her and she helps him in many different ways throughout the movie.

In this movie, there are many different symbols and different forms of fascism. The number 5 plays a huge role. It seems as though everything is based off that number. When the government people are talking to the Chancellor, there are 5 of them. When V is at his house, and is going to play this music player, there are over 200 songs he could have picked, and he picks number 5. Also, when they show the statue, there are 5 people that are on it. A very creative and interesting symbol was when Natalie is at V’s house eating breakfast, he serves her this piece of toast with an egg in the middle, and when she is at Gordon’s house, and he serves her the same thing. What this symbolizes, is when Natalie is in the jail cell, she has to wear this orange shirt, and she is laying in the middle of the floor in the fetal position and when the camera angle is facing down, it looks just like the breakfast that V and Gordon made her.

This movie was one of the best movies I had ever seen. It has a great underlying message and is filled with many symbols and shows a lot of fascism. I would definitely recommend this movie to people who are older because it is rated R, and there are some violent scenes. Knowing the background to this movie, made the movie even better and really put more meaning to it. I would rate this movie 4.5 out of 5.