Film:  V for Vendetta
August 2006

by Michael Moore
with filmmaker Frank Goodin

Michael A. Moore, aka Quess?, is a poet/writer/spoken word artist and recent graduate of FAMU. He hails from New Orleans, LA by way of Brooklyn, NY and is former editor of the Creative Mindz section of the FAMUAN Newspaper. He may be seen performing at Mt. Zion Calypso Cafe and can be reached at mmoore@tallahasseeblackpages.com

"I'll cry me a river… over you." Such was the repetitive lament sanctioned off to the beleaguered mass of humanity. That's what Ella said to her ex-lover and apparently what the man called "V" designated to the lost souls entrapped within the confines of war laden Earth circa 2020 or so. I liked that-the backdrop of music that buoyed forth the latent tonalities of the film. The movie score helped delineate the subtle intonations of the complicated psyche of out tortured protagonist. And of he, Mr. V, formerly identified as prisoner Roman Numeral V in some government sponsored research lab (that looks more like a concentration camp), well the jury is still out on the new millennium archetypal hero. I'm not exactly sure when the western superhero switched from the quasi-queer All American Super Man prototype to the vaudevillian good bad guy that is V (short for Vendetta); but if mythologies are a gauge for the consciousness of a people, then Mr. V is clearly a benchmark of a shift in the collective Western mind state. Today's vanguard of morality and shepherd of the flock is no longer the staunchly sterile all-American boy in blue (and red and sometimes white). He has adorned himself in the darkly connoted colors of menacing black and alarming red. He is equal parts dark and light, God and the Devil, cop and robber. He is-god forbid!-human for Christ's sake (or as human as the viewing public will allow its superheroes to be…).

Our 21st century man of the people emerges from the mind of comic genius Alan Moore. His comic book "V" was a project started in 1981 that he completed in 1988. So there's a strong dose of 1980's UK undertones-replete with the auspicious clouds of the totalitarian regime that governed at the time (still does). But the new film epic (with which Moore has apparently disassociated himself) is set some 15 years from now in a future where a disassembled United States writhes in the grasp of Civil War and desperately clamors for cheap pharmaceuticals from a European motherland that locks its citizens down to early curfews and incessant surveillance. Meanwhile corruption not only runs amuck in London, it is the reigning principle in the ranks of a government gone garishly gangsta! Such is the prevailing law of lawlessness: in the land of the lawless, the most lawless shall reign supreme. And it's this recipe for tyranny that lays out the red carpet for the outlaws that manipulate the British government to walk right in.

"V for Vendetta" takes us on a two hour tour through the inner workings of how V came to be who he is as he systematically pays back his past vendettas one by one. V's modus operandi emulates the rebellion of one Guy Fawkes (a real person folks: look 'em up), a legend of European lore whose attack against Parliament in 1605 serves as V's well of inspiration. "Remember remember the 5th of November..." begins the tributary ode to Mr. Fawkes. That's where the movie starts. Then in the first scene V meets his protégé Evey, the orphaned daughter of deceased activists who were abducted during London's anti-terrorism sweeps some 15 years prior (which would equate to about… now). After saving her from the vice grip of some corrupt lawmen, he introduces her to his vigilante voyage of a lifestyle veering off into his first act of vengeance-exploding a sight called the Bailey which pays false homage to the legend of November 5th. All this occurs fittingly on the wee hours of November 5th, an initiation into V's series of conquests and an anniversary tribute to Guy Fawkes all in one. He seals the deal with a visit to Evey's workplace later that morning as he takes over the British television network and announces himself to an astonished populace. The Wachowski brothers of Matrix fame directed the movie so it's no wonder that V's first mass PSA sounds a lot like Morpheus introducing Neo to the real world outside of the Matrix. It's then also that he announces his plan to blow up Parliament upon next year's anniversary.

The next hour and a half winds us quickly through the intricate strands of a tapestry of conspiracy, secrecy and deception that stretches back some 20 or years or so and binds together every member of the cast. To delve deeper would of course unveil roots in an ideologue that extends past the parameters of this movie and involves every living being on the globe. But of course we're dealing solely with the allegory of V, one of many derivatives of the vast saga of humanity versus global white supremacist imperialism and its many legged manifestations. And V merely represents, let him tell it, "an idea… and ideas don't die." More from the vault of Mr. V's philosophy: "People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." I'm not sure how accurate that is; seems like an ideal situation would entail a harmonious correspondence between the two inextricably bound units in the symbiotic relationship of government and populace. People in power serving the ones who have chosen them; isn't that what democracy is supposed to be? But alas, we're not talking about democracy. We're dealing with the mockery thereof, and the real world of controllers versus controlled. And for the sake of this movie, and of this particular zeitgeist, V's philosophy is right on time. Change of the guard indeed…

From what I've read of the comic book, "Vendetta" appears to stick to the script of it pretty consistently. It doesn't' hurt either that the film's namedropping of philosophical and conspiracy theory correlates reads off like a who's who and what's what list of potentials for things you will never hear about (unless berated by Mr. O' Reilly or somebody) on your conservative American News network. There's also a noteworthy head nod to the proverbially oppressed groups in society with two important instances. Approaching the movie's climax, as Evey is being primed for her eventual walk into mental freedom, one of her most pertinent sources of inspiration comes from the leftover letters of one of V's former cellmates back in the "research" lab. The lady was a lesbian filmmaker abducted during the London sweeps. The letters tell her story of exile (due of course, to her unconventional proclivities) in a way that endears you to her struggle. It makes you realize how easily nonconformist fill in the blank could have slipped into her shoes. And then quickly illumines something said by V earlier in the movie to the effect of, "If you're looking for the enforcers of your imprisonment, you need look no further than the mirror." Indeed: "injustice for one is injustice for all" as goes the now cliché (yet hardly applied) wisdom of the late great MLK.

Speaking of which, my mention of Superman earlier on just may be contextualized by that old argument in the black community of MLK versus Malcolm, the ballot or the bullet, turn the other cheek versus by any means, etc. Or at least we can kind of figure where Alan Moore and the Wachowski brothers may stand on it. At the end of the movie as the credits roll thru, some quotable gems are spoken from the late great Malcolm X and none other than the legendary Assatta Shakur. Wow! It was like the big head baby from "Don't Be A Menace While Drinking Your Juice in The Hood" had sprouted up one more time to holler, "Message!" The first time I watched it at the theater, this was of course the part where all the "Yea, that was a really cool movie" viewers of the predominately alabaster persuasion were nonchalantly walking out. Nonetheless, this one here is a classic whose greatness cannot be suppressed even if overlooked. If the movie doesn't get the point across, time will. After all, "you can't kill an idea."