Travis Swinford: Response to V for Vendetta

Remember, Remember the fifth of November. V, who is played by Hugo Weaving, the main character in James McTiegue's film V is for Vendetta really opens your eyes on true patriotism. This film is very political in every way you look at it. When I watched this movie it almost made me want to be as patriotic as V. He is portrayed as a hero, and a hero he is. For a man to convince a whole city, a very large city in fact, to go against their own government he is not only a very powerful man, but a man that people trust and believe in.

The way V had to get his point across in this movie was violence. He was put into a prison and he was tortured. When he got out of prison, by burning it down, he had come up with a scheme to get back at all the people that did him wrong. He killed each one of the people all the way down to the older female doctor. The way London was portrayed as being ran in the future was not the way any one wanted to live their lives, and V was going to change that, and he did that in such a matter as violence. In our day in age we would look down on this person as a terrorist or a villain. But in this movie he was a hero in everyone eyes. He was doing exactly what ever one wanted him to do, but in today society he would have been killed. That's why he needed the help of the entire city to make his point. His point was made at the end of the film when he blew up Parliament.

Ever since the attacks of 9/11 here in the United States, we really shy away from terrorist movies, but in this case you almost feel empathy toward V when he acts against his own country. I was very proud of V when he stands up for what he believes in and grabs his own country by its balls.

Now for Evey, who is played by Natalie Portman, when she has to choose whither what V is doing is wrong, or if she is going to help him in his plans to take over a city in a matter that will never be forgotten. This is the type of decision that V had to almost brain wash her into choosing. That's when the torture came into play. He locked her up and made her not fear any more. This is what she told V she wanted. After her escapades of being locked up she became very aware of what V is trying to do. She now knows the only way for her and her country to be freed from the hell that they are in, she has to step up to the plate, not have any fear, and pull that lever at the end of the movie to display a scene that will never be forgotten in the hearts of ever person that witnessed that in London on November 5th. Call it an act of terrorism or and act of patriotism, but what ever it is, it is definitely very brave. There is a scene when she gets let out of V's prison and she tells V that she needs to go outside for a breath of fresh air. In this scene you watch her lift her arms and you see that she is truly reborn, and has no fear and is now ready to tackle anything put in front of her.

So to conclude I feel that this movie is not about terrorism but about an hero saving its country from the hell they are living in. It is about rebirth and true politics. It about hope an hate. I feel that the point really got across in this movie. When there is a terrorist there is also a hero. Remember, Remember the 5th of November.