Hugo Weaving in V FOR VENDETTA (2006).
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Comicscape - March 22, 2006

Writing about the film version of V FOR VENDETTA poses several problems. I can't quite rip it to shreds like FANTASTIC FOUR, nor can I emphatically recommend it like BATMAN BEGINS. While certainly entertaining, the screenplay completely misunderstands Alan Moore's graphic novel and, in removing both V's moral ambiguity and the text's broader examination of fascism versus anarchism, it plays as a simplistic, American knee-jerk liberal cry of "Freedom!" That Bush is such a Nazi, man. Of course, the film stands separately from the comic as independent work, and you should judge it as such. However, it stands next to a superior, more intelligent work as a didactic, simplistic example of dystopian popular entertainment that panders to activist college students. It's more EQUILIBRIUM than 1984. Once again, the problem lies not in the changes, but the rationale. But, if only to understand the controversy surrounding the film, you should probably see it and decide for yourself. Hell, I saw THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST the night it came out for the same reason (didn't like it; don't e-mail me about it).

For those unfamiliar with either the film or its source material: after nuclear war destroys much of the western world (including the United States), a fascist state run by the party Norsefire embarks on a campaign of racial purification and ultimately turns the United Kingdom into something like the Soviet Union, governed by a supreme Leader -- Adam James Susan -- and departments named after parts of the head -- the Finger (secret police), the Ears (surveillance), and the Nose (investigation). A computer called Fate orchestrates some of the bureaucracy, but it's never clear to what extent. The population, though, generally complacent, suffers food shortages, brutality by the secret police, and constant monitoring by closed circuit cameras. Everyone is miserable, except for statesmen and gangsters. Years after suffering through experiments in a concentration camp, a lone anarchist named "V" dons a Guy Fawkes mask and systematically kills every government official that ever worked at the camp while blowing up buildings and stirring the populace to revolution. At the start of the comic, he saves a young girl named Evey from gang rape by a group of Fingermen and then takes her on as his protégé. As he embarks on his vendetta, he forces Evey into a new intellectual and personal awakening. The film loosely follows the same storyline, though the Wachowski scaled back most of the subplots and added a couple of their own. Evey no longer leaves V for a gangster, but her boss at the television station. There's something of a sexless love story between Evey and V in the film. V's charm supersedes his madness in the film and the viewer will find him far more likeable. The Leader, Susan, is replaced by a barking Hitler clone named Sutler. The whole crowd of people in Fawkes masks at the end is unique to the film. There are more, but that should give you an idea.

These narrative changes don't trouble me. When Hollywood adapts a comic book, I expect its writers and directors to streamline and alter the source material. Both for content and length, films can't compare with comics as a visual medium. In the case of CONSTANTINE -- another Alan Moore creation -- the film presented a less extreme vision of John Constantine's world, sans some of the amorality of its protagonist and the more violent endeavors of his supernatural nemeses. By contrast, in "dumbing down" V FOR VENDETTA, the Wachowski Brothers and James McTigue subtly render the story more extreme in its intentions than Moore and artist David Lloyd ever did. Independent of my preference for the comic, the film completely mischaracterizes the actions of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Britons "Remember, remember the fifth of November" to celebrate the failure of the plot to blow up Parliament and assassinate King James I by a group of Catholic dissidents led by Robert Catesby. Though the historical significance has waned in 400 years (leaving a holiday centered around bonfires and fireworks), Britons still mockingly burn effigies of Fawkes. Like Vlad the Impaler, Erzsebet Bathory, and other historical monsters, some have blurred fascination with approval and recast Fawkes as a hero -- the film being the most recent example. However, by Moore's own admission, "Guy Fawkes was not a freedom fighter, he was a religious fanatic."[1]

The film both misunderstands and lauds Fawkes's intentions, whereas Moore states, "I was just using Guy Fawkes as a symbol, without really any references to the historical Guy Fawkes."[1] And, in fact, V and Fawkes had very different intentions. Fawkes wanted to kill James I so that his nine-year-old daughter would inherit the throne and, the conspirators hoped, convert to Catholicism. V fights for anarchy. Hence, while Moore made a superficial connection between Fawkes and V -- both revolutionaries keen on blowing up Parliament -- the reader shouldn't compare the two. But, in opening the film with Fawkes's execution and having V call for a convergence on November fifth effectively condones the gunpowder plot as a memorable attempt at revolution, which it wasn't. It would've destroyed half of London, taking Christ knows how many innocent lives with it. It was a reckless, stupid act of religious extremism -- not a heroic act in the name of civil liberties, ending war, legalizing pot, and the like.

As with most Hollywood adaptations, the film removes any semblance of nuance or ambiguity and replaces it with something more palatable and contemporary. Moore wrote V FOR VENDETTA pessimistically speculating about the future of the United Kingdom under then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. However, in the film, we see Britons relaxing in pubs watching the telly and sitting in nice suburban homes. Everything seems just rosy by comparison to the comic's world. As it stands, this change resembles less Moore's Britain than a leftist vision of the United States -- a country of complacent, comfortable middle class folks that traded their civil liberties for security. Yes, we see flashbacks of prisoners experimented upon in concentration camps, political dissidents abducted, and homosexuals rounded up for execution. But, by the film's present, everything seems just lovely.

I don't fault the filmmakers so much for altering Moore's vision as changing it into something well-tread that panders to its audience -- American liberalism versus neo-conservativism. Moore wrote V FOR VENDETTA as a dialectic between anarchy and fascism. Moore is an anarchist. He doesn't condone blowing up buildings and killing innocents, but he doesn't support hierarchical government of any kind. And, while the narrative makes V the protagonist -- and one with similar politics to his creator, no less -- he is clearly not a hero. His methods are extreme. He hurts people. At times, he is extremely unlikable. Moore imbues him with moral ambiguity that doesn't force the reader to condone his methods. If anything, the comic asks the reader if the ends justify the means and never offers an easy answer. The film tries to make V less glamorous, particularly in Evey's torture sequence, but it fails to convincingly portray V as anything less than a charming swashbuckler whose ends justify his means. This is a bomb-happy Errol Flynn in a Guy Fawkes mask. The film condones V's acts of revolution without ever questioning his methods. And, ironically enough, the final scene of the film embodies a glaring, ridiculous contradiction. V fights for civil liberties, tolerance, and individuality -- all things the government suppressed. And yet, the film climaxes with a horde of Britons gathering en masse all dressed exactly like V. I imagine the Wachowski's intended this to embody the population's acceptance of V's position -- no longer slaves, they will live as free Britons as V did. However, it reduces the force of individualism to one faceless mob conquering another. If it's meant to be ironic, it comes off as someone yelling, "By the way, V's just as bad as the party!" during the last seconds of the film with no other evidence to support such an interpretation.

Furthermore, the graphic novel examines all sides of the equation. Moore humanizes the Leader and the rest of Norsefire. He explains, but never condones, the appeal and rationale of fascism. As such, he sets two very human, very extreme trains on a narrative collision course that results in several people dead, a number of buildings blown up, and an uncertain future. While I don't support anarchism, I finished rereading V FOR VENDETTA thinking, "Of course something like that would happen in a fascist state. Someone would lash out." As such, it serves as a cautionary tale against fascism that includes, yes, preserving civil liberties. The film serves to reaffirm the beliefs of anyone that already dislikes George Bush and the Republicans in power. It doesn't ask you questions and encourage you to decide -- it hands you answers.

Don't get my wrong, I found the film entertaining enough. I didn't walk out thinking, "That was crap. Give me money back." I honestly had a pretty good f--king time while watching it. I think Hugo Weaving does a great job emoting behind a mask. He's charming, witty, and engaging and you have to savor every second he's on camera. Like the first BLADE and THE PUNISHER, the strong protagonist carries a weaker film. Everything outside of V's time on camera feels like a waiting period in between his hysterical bursts of wit and energy. And yes, his action scenes are killer. Bullet-time knives fly through the air, bones are snapped, and ruby globs of blood erupt from many a slashed throat. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast pales before Weaving's brilliant madness, but I can't say that anyone unequivocally sucked. Natalie Portman does an okay-not-great job as Evey, still managing to look hot even when she's bald and tortured. By the end of her ordeal in the comic, Evey looked like she'd just fled Auschwitz.

To conclude: I usually enjoy dystopian, individual-versus-government stories. I don't support fascism and revolution in the face of it is laudable. In that regard, I don't find the film as offensive as some have. Were I in V's world, I'd probably join the revolt. However, while I wouldn't label V a terrorist in the same regard as Al Qaeda, favorably comparing him to Guy Fawkes is both historically inaccurate and offensive. And, reducing the comic's dialectic of anarchism versus fascism to a left-wing attack on American neo-conservatism comes off as pandering -- a film designed to preach to its choir, released by one of the very same evil corporations some people love to hate. Having tasted dystopian fiction with 1984, BRAVE NEW WORLD, FARENHEIT 451, ANTHEM, and Moore's comic at a relatively young age, I know it can be done better. When asked recently if I liked the film, I replied, "If you're a knee-jerk liberal who gets excited every time Dubya mispronounces a word, you'll love it." For the rest of us, we have an entertaining, if flawed example of dystopian fiction rendered preachy and palatable. The revolution may not be televised, but it won't happen here.

[1] MacDonald, Heidi. A for Alan Pt. 2: the further adventures of Alan Moore. The Beat at Comicon.com. Retrieved Monday, March 20, 2006 from http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/03/a_for_alan_pt_2_the_further_ad.html

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