‘V for Vendetta’ is a delightful cinematic coup

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. – US President Dwight Eisenhower

Hurray for a dynamic film that topped the box office last weekend in the land of George W. Bush! The latest Warner Brothers film, V for Vendetta, began as a 1980s British comic book written by Alan Moore and illustrated mainly by David Lloyd). It stars Natalie Portman and is about a rebellion against corruption, lies and conformity.

The movie benefits from the vivacious acting of the protagonists, the valiant and very well-written script, the visual feast of scenes and volcanic political ideas. The Wachowski Brothers of The Matrix fame co-produced this film with Joel Silver and the brothers even wrote the exciting screenplay. Also starring Hugo Weaving, this movie is a riveting, fun and thought-provoking story of a revolution against a repressive, corrupt and dishonest British government in the year 2020.

Portman as Evey Hammond is not only rescued from danger by a mysterious masked man called "V," but is also saved from her worst fears and moral apathy. The character of V is impressive – he is well-read, literary, intellectual, romantic, rebellious and a daredevil freedom fighter. The only disturbing part about his persona is his obsession with personal vengeance, taking the law into his own hands as a one-man destabilization and sedition squad.

In his daring campaign to liberate the English people from the prevailing corrupt and dishonest government, V once hijacks the state-owned TV and asks the public to join him in parliament in a great act of explosive defiance on November 5, or the so-called Guy Fawkes Day. On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested in a tunnel under the parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder which he and his allies boldly planned to blow up. He was a rebel against King James I. Fawkes was eventually tortured and killed.

I confess, my first reason for watching the film was my fascination for the beauty, brains and charm of Natalie Portman. An evolving activist in this movie, Portman in real life spends some of her free time involved in causes such as ending global poverty. In 2004 and 2005, she flew to Third World nations like Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, a group advocating micro-lending to support women-owned micro-businesses in poor countries.

The accomplished American Jewish actress has been in such notable films as Star Wars Episode I, II and III. She said: "In the film, V is described as an idea rather than a person… One of the reasons he is so invincible is because you can kill a man, but an idea can’t be killed. So V represents truth, resistance and individualism. But his vengeance taints his political idealism."

Portman convincingly plays the role of an ordinary office worker in the government’s TV station who is transformed into a fearless and politicized heroine. This should remind all of us that we ordinary citizens can be real heroes and heroines if we have the guts and unwavering devotion to truth. "The script has really strong political and ideological overtones," she says. "And it looks at the kind of choices that must be made in order to be a political person, and how those choices affect an individual’s private life."

To prepare for her role, Portman reportedly watched The Weather Underground, a documentary about a group of young American radicals in the late 1960s and 1970s who bombed the US Capitol building and broke Timothy Leary out of prison. The Israel-born young actress also read legendary Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s autobiography, which describes his early Soviet imprisonment and how he later led the Irgun radical Zionist group in Palestine in undertaking terrorist activities to force the British colonizers out of their future republic of Israel. She also read Antonia Fraser’s Faith and Treason about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 by Guy Fawkes.

In the movie, V watches the 1934 film version of The Count of Monte Cristo based on the novel of Alexander Dumas and Evey repeatedly compares V to Edmond Dantès. V for Vendetta shares similarities with the Dumas book on the themes of imprisonment and revenge. This is also similar to the saga of the avenging Crisostomo Ibarra/Simoun persona in Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo novels, which were most likely inspired also by The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course, the corrupt and arrogant Spanish colonial regime condemned the Rizal novels for "inciting to sedition."

I am not a restless youth who just wants to be a rebel without a cause. I strongly believe that it is my duty to constantly speak out against shenanigans by the powers-that-be, to unceasingly defend the unvarnished truth, to challenge and to question.

This delightful film is a coup de cinema – timely and relevant to our turbulent times, especially when members of the ruling class in different countries terrorize, trample on civil liberties and lie to their citizens. V for Vengeance warns all of us not to accept or compromise on corruption, manipulation, moral relativism, threats to press freedom or insidious government lies. We should rebel against conformism, moral apathy and conquer our fears. We should never forget one of fearless V’s quotes: "People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."

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