Review: V for Vendetta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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I had heard that Alan Moore, the creator of the series, was in staunch opposition in regards to making a movie from his source material. Reading the graphic novel, I can see there are changes and creative liberties taken with the source material. A conspiracy to take over the government, more stylized fight scenes, a more good vs evil conflict, to say the least.
V, in the comics, is a true anarchist. He has no grand plan as to what the future of their nation is to be. He is merely there to destroy the existing corrupt, authoritarian regime, and to essentially wipe the slate clean. Unlike in the movies, he has no direct role in the deaths of the leader Adam Susan, or other senior party officials such as Creedy, Helen & Conrad. He merely instigates events or motives, which lead to that outcome. What happens afterwards is not his concern, or rather, he leaves it up to the people. Indeed, V sees himself as a vestige of the old world order, and after his mission is completed, removes himself from the board.
After his death towards the climax, Evey wrestles over the choice of whether or not she should remove his mask, to see the person underneath. Ultimately, she decides against it, for some part of her realizes that by knowing the person, she would be reducing what V represented to a lesser plane. V has to remain an idea, one to be followed, to be emulated, and if need be recreated.
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V, in the book, is not trying to inspire the entire populace, he only concerns himself with training Evey as a successor, and destroying Norsefire. After the deed is done, the populace erupts in anarchy, and their future is left as uncertain.
There is a duality going on here, between Justice, represented by the lady of Justice & anarchy, by the goddess/ mistress of anarchy. V, in a previous life, had courted Justice as a lover. But found her in bed with another man. This might be an allusion to the cause of Justice, being co-opted, subverted and perverted by the regime of Norsefire.
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V for vendetta, even though it was inspired by the Thatcher period of administration in Britain, holds a very Orwellian world view, with the police state which keeps its people subjugated by scarcity and fear.
While they did perform racial cleansing of the citizens, the leaders of the Norsefire seem to be indifferent to such concepts of racial purity, in turn using this agenda as a means to consolidate wealth and power. As evidenced by how they allow senior party officials to engage in vile, immoral hedonistic exercises as long as it is kept away from the public eye.
Rather than portray them as some form of Faustian villains, the individuals who comprise the Norsefire regime, are merely people blinded by power, or those who blindly believe the righteousness of what they are doing.
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While not apparent, the journey of V, Valerie and later Evey draws parallel to the real life experience of Victor Frankl, in the Nazi concentration camp. One of the key takeaways of Frankl from the ordeal, which he discusses in his book, ‘Man’s search for meaning’, is ‘If you have a why to live, you can find the how’, or put simply have hope, and reason to live.
When subjected to torture and experimentation, V found solace and hope in the last will of Valerie, or subject number IV. And later, Evey finds the final inch of hope to stand up against her captures, similarly taking hope from Valerie’s words. By cultivating hope, both V and Evey were able to overcome their ordeals, and come out of it different people.
There is also wedged somewhere in there, that old parable by Plato, about the men who spent their whole lives, in a dark caves, bound in chains. They've spent so long in the dark, they think the world outside is just the shadows that reflect of the wall of their caves. When someone dares to venture out, and come back to tell them, no the world is a wonderful place, and we are stuck here unable to see it, they become afraid. They have become so used to their darkness, to their chains, the thought of breaking them, to venture outside is devastating. V, is that agent who forces them to strip away their perceived safety, and forces them to stare into the harsh light of truth, of freedom.
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Contrary to what many portray him as, V doesn’t see himself as an agent of chaos. Nor is he portrayed as a wronged victim seeing righteous vengeance. He is wronged, he is a victim, and he is seeking vengeance; but V in the books, is more akin to a wrathful agent of destruction, an elemental who spreads death and misery across his path, regardless of who might be caught or destroyed by his actions.
“People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.”
He is kind to evey, but ruthless to anyone who interferes in his vengeance. He comes across as a cultured auteur but also is capable of extreme acts of brutality. He is capable of long term intricate planning, but is willing to throw it all away, and let events unfold completely outside his control. V is someone who becomes more enigmatic as the story progresses, and his mystique is left unresolved.
“Everybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody. Everybody has their story to tell.”
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More So than the movie, the book explores the more fetishistic practices in the world. Evey Hammond enters the story, as a 16 year old girl, soliciting men, in exchange for money. Adam Susan, is obsessed with the supercomputer Fate, that he objectified fate, and is almost enamored by it. Rosemary is in a toxic dependent relationship with Almond, who we suspect might be a repressed homosexual, who then takes his frustrations out on his wife.
Conrad Heyer, the head of the surveillance division, the eyes, has an almost sadomasochistic pleasure in intruding in other people’s life. His wife Helen, a smart, ruthless, cold hearted and ambitious person, uses her husband’s submissive nature, as well as her own sexuality, to gain power from the shadows. Eric Finch takes a concoction of LSD and medication to ‘feel’ the pain and suffering of those who were interred in Larkhill. The list goes on. Which makes it understandable, as to why the movie would choose to downplay several of these elements, and outright drop some characters, like Rosemary.
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All said and done, V for vendetta, is a story with many layers, tries and in many places succeeded in painting characters in complex strokes, as people with motivations, instead of caricatures assigned to the opposing side of the lane.
This, in addition to the haunting art style, and the rich worldbuilding, has cemented its place as one of most influential graphic novels of our time, and one which deserves to be a piece of art which transcends genres.
This story is something which you have to read, if you are a comic book fan, as well as someone who lives and breathes in this small world of ours.
Optional reading: Story Synopsis
Prelude:
In an alternate timeline, tensions between the soviet and western allies escalate, leading to nuclear war, as well as destruction of US and large parts of mainland Europe. UK and the Irelands, geographically isolated, were able to escape the major brunt of the devastation. But the nuclear fallout destroyed the ecosystem, as well as the agrarian potential of the nation Deprived of the food and resources needed to keep order, Britain descended into chaos and anarchy. The government is ineffective and eventually destroyed.
At the time, the right wing groups of the nation, backed by the remaining wealthy powerful corporations, band together and form a ultraright wing nationalistic party, named Norsefire. Using their paramilitary, and effective leadership, they are able to reestablish order in the nation. Having taken power, they established their own dictatorial government. The people, tired of the chaos and uncertainty are reluctant but nonetheless welcome this regime.
Once they’ve consolidated power, and mollified the public, Norsefire proceeds with enacting their own strict racial profiling and cleansing across the nation. Blacks, Asians, Middle easterners, Hispanics, Homosexuals, anyone who don’t conform to their puritanical racial standards are rounded up, and sent to ‘resettlement camps’, which are essentially concentration camps. This also includes, homosexuals and alternate sexualities, who are seen as aberrant abominations, perversions of the natural order, as well as socialists and other individuals who could have become political opposition to the party.
Over the next five years Britain depreciates into an Orwellian Police state, where the perpetually incumbent Norsefire regime, headed by their leader Adam Susan, who keeps an eye on the populace, quite literally, by means of an entire nationwide network of surveillance cameras, as well as the surveillance supercomputer network ‘Fate’. In addition to the ‘eyes’, Norsefire maintains wiretap surveillance of the populace, as well as enforces their strict policies, by means of the enforcer organization, colloquially referred to as ‘The Fingers’. In the book, ‘being fingered’ by the officers, can lead to a fate something worse than death.
Following the arrest of all the undesirables were transferred to the ‘Larkhill Resettlement camps’, where they were subjected to inhumane conditions, as well as experimented upon. Those considered invalids were sent for chemical baths, for immediate execution. Our Protagonist, the anarchist V, was one of the 48 eligible candidates, selected for experimentation by hormonal infusions, of a prototype drug, designated, ‘batch-V’. The trial had almost 100% mortality, with V being the only viable survivor. Other test subjects died after receiving Batch-V, either immediately, or after developing horrible mutations in their body, such as the growth of vestigial organs.
V however, didn’t survive the procedure intact. Whatever his part personality was, was shattered and lost during the procedure, and an entirely different person emerged. Someone who had incredible intellect, as well as a keen understanding of things around him. He was also someone who displayed an almost pathological hatred of people, viewing them as a man would gaze upon ants. Dr. Delia, noted how he seemed to display the sort of behavior inherent in those suffering from schizophrenia, and was often unnerved, by his seemingly random actions; and his artistic displays.
V, developed several skills while in captivity, and at an incredible pace. He was able to recreate a garden of plants, especially roses which were previously considered extinct, following the nuclear war. Using his skills he was able to curry favor with the officials and gain access to various chemicals, in lieu of using them as fertilizers. He used these chemicals to construct mustard gas, rigged it to a chemical explosive and blew it to destroy his containment cell, as well as the camp.
Dr. Delia in the aftermath of the explosion, saw a figure arise from the ashes, amidst the flame. The figure looked at her, before vanishing into the night.
Larkhill was soon dismantled and decommissioned, it’s administrators taking up other avenues of advancements. During the five years after the camp, many of the prison administrators managed to obtain high ranking positions in the regime. During the five years, V was laying the groundwork for his master stroke, to reap vengeance upon those who wronged him, as well as to bring about the utter destruction of this totalitarian regime. So it sets up the premise of things to come.
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Story proper
The story begins with Evey Hammond, a 16 year old orphan, working in a factory. Her parents died during the conflict following the nuclear war, and she was struggling now to make ends meet. As her job doesn't do that well, she, like other girls in the factory, dresses up one night, and tries to solicit men in dark alleys. Unfortunately for her, the man she approaches is one of the ‘fingermen’, enforcers of Norsefire. He and two others, apprehend Evey, and are about to punish her, by sexually assaulting her.
Just then, a mysterious masked stranger enters the scene, kills the fingermen, and saves Evey. He introduces himself as merely ‘V’, and invites her atop a roof, where at the stroke of midnight, she shows her the destruction of the parliament building. It was a terrorist event orchestrated by V, in order to sent a message to the Norsefire Regime.
Following this, V takes Evey under his wing, taking her to his hideout, ‘the shadow gallery’, as well as making her complicit in his activities. Over an unspecified amount of time, V continues his crusade, destroying key government infrastructure, kidnapping high ranking party officials, murdering or driving them insane, all the while educating and bonding with Evey. He takes over broadcast of the Norsefire channel, chastises the populace for allowing dictators like Norsefire to flourish, warning them to reform, and proclaims his intentions of revolution, come 5th of November next year.
On the other side, leaders of Norsefire, including the leader Adan Susan, was becoming more and more enraged at V’s acts of sabotage, as well as how he was able to evade them for so long. They assign the head of the Finger, Derek Almond to apprehend the criminal, who then delegates the task to Investigator Eric Finch & his partner Dominic.
Almond is caught flatfooted trying to arrest V, at the site of his next murder, of Dr. Delia Surridge, and is killed by V. Finch, who was involved with Delia, is distraught at her death, as well as that of Almond, discovers the doctor’s personal diary, which sheds some light into V’s past, as a subject in Larkhill.
Meanwhile, leader Susan, who spends all his days cooped up in the chamber of Fate, surveying upon people’s life, becomes more and more unhinged, believing Fate to have become sentient, and believing the supercomputer to be his creation and one true love. This was of course, subtly encouraged by V, who had managed to get backdoor access to Fate, and thus was able to stay one step ahead of Norsefire at all times.
Almond’s widow, Rosemary is denied his pension benefits, and is forced to solicit herself, and work as a dancing girl at a bar. She has become desperate and disillusioned, and seeking someone to blame.
Behind the scenes, as Susan’s fragile mental state becomes leaked, surviving senior party leadership, including the new head of finger Peter Creedy, head of ‘the eye’ Conrad Heyer (himself a figurehead to his much more ambitious wife Helen), all plot a takeover, following Susan’s eventual removal.
Evey. has become more attached to V, believing him to be her father, or viewing him as a lover. To test her resolve, he takes her away from the safety of the shadow gallery, and drops her back into the street. Alone and afraid once again, Evey tries to eke out an existence, getting in a relationship with a much older criminal, falling in love with him, only to see him stabbed to death. Back in the street, she is seemingly arrested by the fingers, for attempting to murder a senior party leader.
Evey is put into a prison, much similar to Larkhill. She is tortured, her hair shaved off, starved, forced to stay in a dark, cold cell, and interrogated regularly to make her confess to being an accomplice of the criminal V. She endures, through her willpower, and being profoundly moved by the final will of a fellow prisoner Valerie, who had noted down her life’s story on a toilet paper, tucked into the prison wall.
Valerie was a homosexual women, who had acted in some art house movies, before the nuclear war. After Norsefire cane to power, she and her lover were put into Larkhill, and tortured much like evey. Evey though she would eventually succumb, she wrote her final will and testament, as a means to give that final inch of hope for the next person who will occupy this cell.
Emboldened by Valerie, Evey defies the investigators, bravely accepting her execution. It is at that time, that V reveals himself as the perpetuator of the whole ruse. He was the one who kidnapped her, and subjected her to all the torture. All in an attempt to break her down, and free her from the cage, which she had built for herself, and inside which she was content to live in.
Initially shocked, and feeling betrayed, Evey soon came to realize what V was trying to teach her, and for the first time in years, felt truly free, under the rains.
V escalates his acts of terrorism, making Norsefire and its leaders all the more agitated. Evey, under V’s tutelage, teaches herself skills and knowledge necessary to support their cause, even though V has kept from her the final goal of his insurrection. He however, shows her the railway box, full of explosives, which he has prepared for his coup-de grace.
The prelude for the end comes when, on November the 5th, V takes control of Fate, the eye, and all of Norsefire’s surveillance apparatus, essentially crippling the system. As the leadership scrambles, along with the fingers trying to contain the situation, V urges the people, now free from surveillance, to do as they please. Adam Susan, off his rocker, goes out for a public appearance to boost morale, and is shot dead by Rosemary.
Finch, who has become more and more obsessed with V, goes to Larkhill, takes psychedelics, and experiences what the prisoners there were subjected to. He runs off, finds V in the railway tunnels, who allows him to shoot and mortally wound him.
Creedy and Helen work in the shadows to consolidate their power. Creedy is betrayed and killed by one of his hired guns, who was working as a double agent for Helen. He is then killed by Conrad, who sees his wife sleeping with the man, courtesy of a video sent to him by V.
Close to death, V finds Evey, and in his final moments, they share some words, and V passes on his mantle to her, requesting of her, a Viking funeral, before breathing his last. Evey, distraught and in grief, is tempted to remove his mask, to see the face underneath. She decides against it, for doing so would defeat V, who was for her an Idea, worth emulating.
She respects his final will, placing him in the box car, and sending them off, down the line, to the prime minister’s residence, where it explodes in a fantastic display. To the people who were witness to this event, she presents herself as V, having donned his mantle, and become his spiritual successor.
In solitude, she ponders how V had changed her life, and now it was time for her to pass the favor forward. She picks up an injured inspector, Dominic, implying that she was going to impart V's mission to him. The story ends with Finch, haggard, meeting Helen on the street, being harassed by some goons. Helen, desperate, offers Finch, now the senior most official in Norsefire, a chance to be leader, with her by his side. An indifferent disillusioned Finch, pushes her aside, leaves her to her fate, and walks off into the darkness, his future unsure.
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