Movie review: "V for vendetta"
[mood| 
tired but satisfied]
Another review so soon after the previous one? Mezurashii~ ne?
Anyway, I wanted to write this review because it's been really a while since I've been so enthusiastic about a movie.
So let me tell you about my adventure in the world of "V for vendetta" featuring Nathalie Portman.
This movie is based on a comics that I haven't read, so I had a "virgin" mind in front of that movie. I knew it was a kind of political movie, rather dark and somewhat I was slightly frightened to go and see it (there was a warning for children). Initially, I had planned to go and watch another movie (Inside man) but I didn't read my flyer carefully enough and it wasn't scheduled as I thought, so I followed my second choice, that is "V for vendetta".
I have to confess I read beforehand an article about the movie and I knew we'd never get to see V's face, so that was fine by me, I could concentrate on the rest of the movie ;p
So for those who've never heard about the movie, it is set in an alternative fascist London governed by a despotic chancellor. Ewey is a young woman who's saved from rape by V, a mysterious masked man. This "chance" encounter triggers a series of events that pull Ewey in the heart of V's struggle to wake the conscience of the population against what they've passively accepted and that now stands as a prison for their freedom of thought (and religion and sexual preference and skin color and so on). Ewey will discover her true strength through fire and eventually find her own truth, whereas around her, conspiracies and hidden crimes come to light, linking the past to the present and forging new bonds.
Next paragraph deals with the characters and are somewhat spoilerish (couldn't avoid it), so gloss over if you don't want to be spoiled.
//
V is a truly great character, though a bit extravagant. I couldn't help but find him touching in his hidden suffering and determination. He prepared himself to face fate in the sake of justice and revenge. Only briefly does he envision another path but in a sense his revenge is the only thing that keeps him going after all he's been through. I liked his french voice, so deep and humorous and of course dark and feeling-less when he is enacting his mission. It really matched the actor's play and somewhat carried the movie.
Ewey is also an interesting character, not a heroin that you'd usually find in superhero comics, but a "common" woman who built herself on the tragedies of the past, on fear and false certainties. But that very past somewhat comes back to haunt her when she meets V and starts the journey towards self-affirmation and beyond, towards a will of steel and an abnegation close to V's. I guess many people might object to her psychological change and her reactions after her imprisonement, her lack of wanting to avenge herself for what she went through, but I do think she became truly connected to a reality and in the end, was aware of that, thus explaining why she didn't turn against her captor.
I also really appreciated the 2 policemen who chose to further their investigations in spite of danger. In a sense, with Ewey, they were the first to "awake".
//
The movie was very "fluid" in that it was easy to understand, in spite of several flashbacks, and really connected the audience (or at least me) to the emotions of the movie.
Something that made me smile afterwards was that to me, it felt very similar to "Ergo Proxy", with a couple as main characters, a web of conspirators and a population imprisoned with an illusion of a reality, all this set in a dark atmosphere.
So maybe it's no surprise I liked those 2 works so much
tired but satisfied]
Another review so soon after the previous one? Mezurashii~ ne?
Anyway, I wanted to write this review because it's been really a while since I've been so enthusiastic about a movie.
So let me tell you about my adventure in the world of "V for vendetta" featuring Nathalie Portman.
This movie is based on a comics that I haven't read, so I had a "virgin" mind in front of that movie. I knew it was a kind of political movie, rather dark and somewhat I was slightly frightened to go and see it (there was a warning for children). Initially, I had planned to go and watch another movie (Inside man) but I didn't read my flyer carefully enough and it wasn't scheduled as I thought, so I followed my second choice, that is "V for vendetta".
I have to confess I read beforehand an article about the movie and I knew we'd never get to see V's face, so that was fine by me, I could concentrate on the rest of the movie ;p
So for those who've never heard about the movie, it is set in an alternative fascist London governed by a despotic chancellor. Ewey is a young woman who's saved from rape by V, a mysterious masked man. This "chance" encounter triggers a series of events that pull Ewey in the heart of V's struggle to wake the conscience of the population against what they've passively accepted and that now stands as a prison for their freedom of thought (and religion and sexual preference and skin color and so on). Ewey will discover her true strength through fire and eventually find her own truth, whereas around her, conspiracies and hidden crimes come to light, linking the past to the present and forging new bonds.
Next paragraph deals with the characters and are somewhat spoilerish (couldn't avoid it), so gloss over if you don't want to be spoiled.
//
V is a truly great character, though a bit extravagant. I couldn't help but find him touching in his hidden suffering and determination. He prepared himself to face fate in the sake of justice and revenge. Only briefly does he envision another path but in a sense his revenge is the only thing that keeps him going after all he's been through. I liked his french voice, so deep and humorous and of course dark and feeling-less when he is enacting his mission. It really matched the actor's play and somewhat carried the movie.
Ewey is also an interesting character, not a heroin that you'd usually find in superhero comics, but a "common" woman who built herself on the tragedies of the past, on fear and false certainties. But that very past somewhat comes back to haunt her when she meets V and starts the journey towards self-affirmation and beyond, towards a will of steel and an abnegation close to V's. I guess many people might object to her psychological change and her reactions after her imprisonement, her lack of wanting to avenge herself for what she went through, but I do think she became truly connected to a reality and in the end, was aware of that, thus explaining why she didn't turn against her captor.
I also really appreciated the 2 policemen who chose to further their investigations in spite of danger. In a sense, with Ewey, they were the first to "awake".
//
The movie was very "fluid" in that it was easy to understand, in spite of several flashbacks, and really connected the audience (or at least me) to the emotions of the movie.
Something that made me smile afterwards was that to me, it felt very similar to "Ergo Proxy", with a couple as main characters, a web of conspirators and a population imprisoned with an illusion of a reality, all this set in a dark atmosphere.
So maybe it's no surprise I liked those 2 works so much