Pop Culture Corner: V, All that You Can V
03-31-2006
by Aaron Dicer

V All That You Can V
V for Vendetta, R

Great movies are like great cheeseburgers; the perfect patty, covered in cheese, topped with the exact right amount of extras, and thrown into a soft bun for the ultimate hand held culinary treat. Some movies focus on the burger itself; no bells and whistles just straight up protien. Other movies tend to be all extras, great special effects and whiz-bang action but when you really get under the bun you find yourself in an old Wendy's commercial asking "Where's the beef?". The best movies, however, find a way to balance the meat of the message with the eye candy extras into one savory package. And then there are the Wachowski brothers (who also made the Matrix and it's sequels). Andy and Larry make movies that take both the burger and the extras and go for broke. A Wachowski brothers movie looks like this.

Though the Wachowski's only wrote "V for Vendetta" (they let thier friend James McTiegue direct this time) the entire film, and it's gigantic proportions, are all their doing. They may have let someone else throw this baby on the grill, but they provided all the ingredients. "V for Vendetta" follows Evey (Natalie Portman) as she falls into league with "V" (Hugo Weaving) a masked terrorist who uses destruction to rally an opressed people to stand up to a totalitarian government. And since it's a bit much to digest all at once let's separate out some bite sized pieces by checking out the major themes as encompassed in three important "Vendetta" quotes.

"Artists use lies to tell the truth. Politicians use them to cover it up"

Right off the bat let me say that I'm not going to say much about the blatant political and religious aspects of the film. Even though these topics are central to the surface message of the film, and it would be fool hardy to pretend that the movie doesn't make direct allusion to the current US administration or Christianity's long standing reputation for being judgemental, legalistic, and militant. My feeling is that this stuff has already been covered to death (by Christians and the mainstream) and that there is some great stuff even deeper in "V" below the political and religious musings. Even here at CMCentral, Yo took a great angle on these things here. Which is why what I love about this quote, and want to emphasize, has much more to do with the first part than the second. One of Vendetta's theme's seems to be that "Truth" or "Ideas" are supreme. Meaning that truth escapes every story it is contained in. It resonates in a way that it breaks forth even when trapped in a fiction. This is a beautifully self-referential observation by the Wachowskis, and is backed up even in the way the Jesus himself used parables and fictional stories to allow truth to shine. Truth is not captive to the story and even more importantly not even captive to the storyteller's intention. Truth is a standard, and despite our inability to fully understand it at times, it exists immutable and beautiful. Francis Bacon said it this way, "Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.", Relient K said it this way, "Put the emphasis on the evidence, Begging for the proof, Sometimes the hardest thing to believe is the truth."

"It's not coincidence, it's the illusion of coincidence."

Another great theme that is a testament to truth as well. Philosophically and logically truth and coincidence cannot exist in the same room. In a movie so much about ideas and the passion and purpose to convey them, it's nice to see these dots connected. Coincidence negates planning and with no plan there is no purpose, with no purpose there is no meaning, and with no meaning there is no truth. It is absolutely essential for anyone who believes in truth like "V" (whether misguided or not) to disavow coincidence and chance. The movie revels in the illusion of coincidence with the many visual threads that weave throughout the story, whether it be through the way breakfast is preparred or the many times the letter V shows up with seeming randomness.

"Behind this mask is a man, and behind this man is an idea. And ideas are bulletproof."

Possibly my favorite line in the movie in that it deals with something that God has been really trying to teach me recently. My battle is not against flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12). It's so easy to get caught up in an "Us vs. Them" mentality because it's much easier to fight something when it has a face or at least a physical embodyment. It's easier for us to hate Hillary Clinton or Rush Limbaugh, to direct our anger toward Eminem or Britanny Spears, when in truth it's not them that we are fighting, rather it is the ideas and philosophies that stand contrary to truth that we are up against. This is deeper than "love the sinner, hate the sin". This is "We are all the sinner, let's work through this together." There is no "us" and there is no "them" we all stand united in our humaness, fraility, and imperfection. The war of ideas isn't fighting people, it's coming together to let the truth represent itself faithfully.

Some good ponderances, no doubt, but the question remains, is it worth seeing? Well, I wouldn't outright recommend it. There is enough violence and heavy subject matter to warrant the R rating so the younger among us will certainly need a parental permission slip. As far as quality is concerned the cinematography and score are both spectacular. Natalie Portman puts together an amazing performance as Evey and Hugo Weaving is also stellar in what is basically a voice acting performance as we never once see his face. The writing is great if not at times over indulgent, but the plot leaves a bit to be desired with a few holes and inconsistancies.

In the end, "V for Vendetta" is a bit much to swallow in one sitting, but might be a good exercise in critical thinking with plenty of meat to dive into. However, make sure to chew every bite thouroughly as swallowing this movie whole could lead to massive indigestion.

Message - B-
Content - C-
Quality - B-

Overall - 80%

(Aaron Dicer is Program Director and does the morning show at 101.7 "The Fuse", in Saginaw, Michigan. He has also spoken around the country at youth events and seminars on how a Christian can interact with culture in a positive way. Every other week he will offer a new review of a TV show, Movie, or other piece of pop culture. You can hear him at wprj.org, read more articles at hookedonsiphonics.com, or be his friend at myspace.com/aarondicer. Questions, comments, opinions, ideas? Email him at dice@cmcentral.com)