v for vendetta
watched v for vendetta today.
i think it's a good movie.. one of the best i'v seen in ages.
throughout the whole movie i was thinking about the ways the filmmakers tried to put the message across, and it made me think about a whole lot of other stuff.
it's a rather GP-ish movie, and although the setting is a bit fantastic (think england under hitler/stalin/mao), the storyline is quite solid and the acting is not bad. =)
V's quotes were pretty good too, " the people should not be afraid of the government. the government should be afraid of the people." and " coincidence is an illusion."
and the V's explanation of why he was planning to blow up the parliament building hid a symbolic meaning that the parliament house represents the power of the government to the people. if the building is destroyed, so will the government's power symbolically.
personally i felt that the movie ended very well.
especially when the detective asked evey (natalie portman) who V really was.
and the scene where all the citizens wearing guy fawkes masks swamped towards parliament house, and the parliament house and big ben went up in fireworks.
i guess my perspectives were widened after the show, especially since the show is extremely pertinent to the real world.
how do we know if what's going on is the truth?
should we wholeheartedly believe in the government's words?
are they trying to ensnare us in a web of deceit and lies?
makes you think a lot about these issues.
also, i liked the way the scriptwriter managed to incorporate historical issues into the movie. or was it the comic book writer?
i thought it was pretty interesting how saddam hussein's anthrax attack on the kurds in iraq was worked into the storyline, and nazi atrocities during world war two was portrayed, plus the regime of terror under which mao and stalin ruled.
READ FOR SPOILERS:
personally i think that the introduction to the movie had a lot of impact.
the original guy fawkes intended to blow up the parliament house by wheeling dynamite through a tunnel to it.
and in the end, V's mode of action was via a train packed full of dynamite to crash into the parliament building and watch it explode.
it's symbolic in a sense that it carries off from where the original left off and the modus operandi was almost identical.
i find that the movie resonates within me simply because of the simple idea that we should not let the government wield so much control over us. by giving the government so much power, we are in fact letting them walk all over us, training us to become automatons incapable of feeling.
in a sense, we are wearing masks to prevent ourselves from letting our true selves show and risk getting arrested or persecuted. we feel what the government wants us to feel and we believe in what the government wants us to believe. the control of the media especially in the St Mary's virus incident in the movie is testament to the great power of the media in influencing the general opinion of the public. in actual fact, the virus was not spread by the so-called terrorists in the movie, but by the government itself to gain power and to show that they are the beacon of hope in a chaotic world. however the media exaggerated and blew the whole incident out of proportion to gain the emotional backlash of the people. and through this emotional backlash, they put the government into power.
and larkhill detention centre sounded exactly like auschwitz, where the nazis brought the jews to be experimented on. and their corpses were dumped into mass graves and buried. although the experimental data was important, the means was inhumane to say the least. it did not justify the ends. kind of makes you wonder how people manage to perform such cruel acts without even batting a single eyelid.
finally, i guess the most pivotal point in the movie was when V handed over the control of the lever on the train to evey. it carries so much importance because in a sense, he was handing over the control of their own fates back to the people. if evey did not pull the lever, she was resigning herself to the fate given by the government, which was to either comply or die. if evey pulled the lever, she would be liberating a whole country who was suffering under an oppressive regime, and who grew disenchanted with such harsh control over their personal lives.
also, i guess the intention of V was to blow up parliament house, but the main problem was that it was what he wanted, not what the majority wanted. by handing over the decision to evey, he was letting the people decide what they want, hence showing the importance of people power to sway political decisions as well as it's strength. this is probably a reference to karl marx's writings, where the oppressed proletariat would rise up and crush the leaders.
there is so much to this movie which is pertinent to the real world, i'm pretty glad i watched it with sl, who could understand the movie. anyway, people, you should go watch it. it's worth the money.
i think it's a good movie.. one of the best i'v seen in ages.
throughout the whole movie i was thinking about the ways the filmmakers tried to put the message across, and it made me think about a whole lot of other stuff.
it's a rather GP-ish movie, and although the setting is a bit fantastic (think england under hitler/stalin/mao), the storyline is quite solid and the acting is not bad. =)
V's quotes were pretty good too, " the people should not be afraid of the government. the government should be afraid of the people." and " coincidence is an illusion."
and the V's explanation of why he was planning to blow up the parliament building hid a symbolic meaning that the parliament house represents the power of the government to the people. if the building is destroyed, so will the government's power symbolically.
personally i felt that the movie ended very well.
especially when the detective asked evey (natalie portman) who V really was.
and the scene where all the citizens wearing guy fawkes masks swamped towards parliament house, and the parliament house and big ben went up in fireworks.
i guess my perspectives were widened after the show, especially since the show is extremely pertinent to the real world.
how do we know if what's going on is the truth?
should we wholeheartedly believe in the government's words?
are they trying to ensnare us in a web of deceit and lies?
makes you think a lot about these issues.
also, i liked the way the scriptwriter managed to incorporate historical issues into the movie. or was it the comic book writer?
i thought it was pretty interesting how saddam hussein's anthrax attack on the kurds in iraq was worked into the storyline, and nazi atrocities during world war two was portrayed, plus the regime of terror under which mao and stalin ruled.
READ FOR SPOILERS:
personally i think that the introduction to the movie had a lot of impact.
the original guy fawkes intended to blow up the parliament house by wheeling dynamite through a tunnel to it.
and in the end, V's mode of action was via a train packed full of dynamite to crash into the parliament building and watch it explode.
it's symbolic in a sense that it carries off from where the original left off and the modus operandi was almost identical.
i find that the movie resonates within me simply because of the simple idea that we should not let the government wield so much control over us. by giving the government so much power, we are in fact letting them walk all over us, training us to become automatons incapable of feeling.
in a sense, we are wearing masks to prevent ourselves from letting our true selves show and risk getting arrested or persecuted. we feel what the government wants us to feel and we believe in what the government wants us to believe. the control of the media especially in the St Mary's virus incident in the movie is testament to the great power of the media in influencing the general opinion of the public. in actual fact, the virus was not spread by the so-called terrorists in the movie, but by the government itself to gain power and to show that they are the beacon of hope in a chaotic world. however the media exaggerated and blew the whole incident out of proportion to gain the emotional backlash of the people. and through this emotional backlash, they put the government into power.
and larkhill detention centre sounded exactly like auschwitz, where the nazis brought the jews to be experimented on. and their corpses were dumped into mass graves and buried. although the experimental data was important, the means was inhumane to say the least. it did not justify the ends. kind of makes you wonder how people manage to perform such cruel acts without even batting a single eyelid.
finally, i guess the most pivotal point in the movie was when V handed over the control of the lever on the train to evey. it carries so much importance because in a sense, he was handing over the control of their own fates back to the people. if evey did not pull the lever, she was resigning herself to the fate given by the government, which was to either comply or die. if evey pulled the lever, she would be liberating a whole country who was suffering under an oppressive regime, and who grew disenchanted with such harsh control over their personal lives.
also, i guess the intention of V was to blow up parliament house, but the main problem was that it was what he wanted, not what the majority wanted. by handing over the decision to evey, he was letting the people decide what they want, hence showing the importance of people power to sway political decisions as well as it's strength. this is probably a reference to karl marx's writings, where the oppressed proletariat would rise up and crush the leaders.
there is so much to this movie which is pertinent to the real world, i'm pretty glad i watched it with sl, who could understand the movie. anyway, people, you should go watch it. it's worth the money.
posted by ivan~ at 6:35 AM
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