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dailychapel · 2 years

Text

The Third Song of Isaiah

Isaiah 60:1-3, 11a, 14c, 18-19

Arise, shine, for your light has come, * and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.

For behold, darkness covers the land; * deep gloom enshrouds the peoples.

But over you the Lord will rise, * and his glory will appear upon you.

Nations will stream to your light, * and kings to the brightness of your dawning.

Your gates will always be open; * by day or night they will never be shut.

They will call you, The City of the Lord, * The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Violence will no more be heard in your land, *

ruin or destruction within your borders.

You will call your walls, Salvation, * and all your portals, Praise.

The sun will no more be your light by day; * by night you will not need the brightness of the moon.

The Lord will be your everlasting light, * and your God will be your glory.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Acts 8:14-25 NRSV

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money! You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.” Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.”Now after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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iwasjustgoingthere · 3 years

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Book list

it’s getting super long so here is the first part: Part 1

30. The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedie (done)

31. Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (done)

Mmm I didn’t love it but it was interesting enough and it’s nice to read things outside of my normal zone. Book club meeting for this book was cancelled/postponed indefinitely.

32. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (done)

Borrowed from my friend Anna because I lent her Sleeping Giants. Set in space and written in the form of transcripts and chat conversations. It was cool and I read it really fast! And the main character is called Kady! There are two more books in the series, I’m curious to read those and have already borrowed them from Anna:

34. Gemina and 35. Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

33. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (done)

I really like how Andy Weir writes. He sets up a really cool problem and then writes about how one would solve it, but like a human, in an entertaining way. I read this book while away for a week doing field work, and I loved having nothing but science on the brain. The story is that the sun is being eaten by space algae and the main guy is on a space mission to fix it, and has amnesia. Very good book.

15. On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz (done!)

I finished this book one day before my second round of borrowing it ends. Horowitz picked a really interesting topic and wrote about it in a very academic way. The opposite of Andy Weir, kind of. I really just wanted to read about her walks around the block with different experts and what cool things they noticed, but she also brought in a lot about how the brain processes things, historical and scientific background to the subject at hand. As a result, slow reading. But still a good book.

36. Eleanor Olliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (done)

One of my favorite books, reread for comfort.

37. The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Recommended to me by Anna.

38. no one is talking about this by patricia lockwood

I randomly went on a book-buying spree and bought this book along with several other. I used up my 80 euro giftcard to the big book store in the city, Dussmann, and then ordered two additional used books online from Worldofbooks.com, which I really, really recommend as an alternative to Amazon for books, at least within Europe (maybe elsewhere but I’ve only used it here). I got a second copy of Marianengraben so that I can lend it out to people and my own copy of Eleanor Olliphant. The other new books acquired are:

39. Something New by Lucy Knisley

40. L’Algorithme du Coeur by Jean-Gabriel Caussee

It’s been a while since I’ve read something in French! Exciting. It’s about a woman who notices the internet has become sentient and tries to befriend it, I think.

41. The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

42. The Wanderer by Peter Van Den Ende

Is it still reading if the book doesn’t have words?

43. Can’t we talk about something more pleasant? by Roz Chast

A graphic novel (?) about the author moving her aging parents into a home. I thought it would be nice to read because aging and end of life is suddenly becoming a very relevant topic in my family in regards to my grandparents.

#speaking

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multiverseforger · 3 years

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On Guy Fawkes Night in 1997 London, a young girl goes to see her boss after curfew when she is sexually attacked by three men who are actually members of the state secret police, called "The Finger." Preparing to rape and kill her, the Fingermen are dispatched by V, a cloaked anarchist wearing a mask, who later remotely detonates explosives at the Palace of Westminster before bringing Evey to his contraband-filled underground lair, the "Shadow Gallery." Evey tells V her life story, which reveals her own past and England's recent history. During a dispute over Poland in the late 1980s the Soviet Union and the United States, under the presidency of Ted Kennedy, entered a global nuclear war which left continental Europe and Africa uninhabitable. Although Britain itself was not bombed due to the Labour government's decision to remove American nuclear missiles, it faced environmental devastation and famine due to the nuclear winter. After a period of lawlessness in which Evey's mother died, the remaining corporations and fascist groups took over England and formed a new totalitarian government, Norsefire. Evey's father, a former socialist, was arrested by the regime.

Meanwhile, Eric Finch, a veteran detective in charge of the regular police force—"the Nose"—begins investigating V's terrorist activities. Finch often communicates with Norsefire's other intelligence departments, including "the Finger," led by Derek Almond, and "the Head," embodied by Adam Susan: the reclusive government Leader, who obsessively oversees the government's Fate computer system. Finch's case thickens when V kidnaps Lewis Prothero, a propaganda-broadcasting radio personality, and drives him into a mental breakdown by forcing him to relive his actions as the commander of a "resettlement" camp near Larkhill with his treasured doll collection as inmates. Evey agrees to help V with his next assassination by disguising herself as a child prostitute to infiltrate the home of Bishop Anthony Lilliman, a paedophile priest, who V forces to commit suicide by eating a poisoned communion wafer. He prepares to murder Dr. Delia Surridge, a medical researcher who once had a romance with Finch. Finch suddenly discovers the connection among V's three targets: they all used to work at Larkhill. That night, V kills both Almond and Surridge. Surridge leaves a diary revealing that V—a former inmate and victim of Surridge's cruel medical experiments—destroyed and fled the camp and is now eliminating the camp's former officers for what they did. Finch reports these findings to Susan, and suspects that this vendetta may actually be a cover for V, who, he worries, may be plotting an even bigger terrorist attack.

Book 2: This Vicious CabaretEdit

Four months later, V breaks into Jordan Tower, the home of Norsefire's propaganda department, "the Mouth"—led by Roger Dascombe—to broadcast a speech that calls on the people to resist the government. V escapes using an elaborate diversion that results in Dascombe's death. Finch is soon introduced to Peter Creedy, the Finger's new head, who provokes Finch to strike him and thus get sent on a forced vacation. All this time, Evey has moved on with her life, becoming romantically involved with a much older man named Gordon. Evey and Gordon unknowingly cross paths with Rose Almond, the widow of the recently killed Derek. After Derek's death, Rose reluctantly began a relationship with Dascombe. With both of her lovers murdered, she is forced to perform demoralizing burlesque work, increasing her hatred of the unsupportive government.

When a Scottish gangster named Ally Harper murders Gordon, a vengeful Evey interrupts a meeting between Harper and Creedy, the latter of whom is buying the support of Harper's thugs in preparation for a coup d'état. Evey attempts to shoot Harper but is suddenly abducted and then imprisoned. Amidst interrogation and torture, Evey finds an old letter hidden in her cell by an inmate named Valerie Page, a film actress who was imprisoned and executed for being a lesbian.

Evey's interrogator finally gives her a choice of collaboration or death; inspired by Valerie, Evey refuses to collaborate and, expecting to be executed, is instead told that she is free. Stunned, Evey learns that her supposed imprisonment is a hoax constructed by V so that she could experience an ordeal similar to the one that shaped him at Larkhill. He reveals that Valerie was a real Larkhill prisoner who died in the cell next to his and that the letter is not a fake. Evey forgives V, who has hacked into the government's Fate computer system and started emotionally manipulating Adam Susan with mind games. Consequently, Susan, who has formed a bizarre romantic attachment to the computer, begins to descend into madness.

Book 3: The Land of Do-As-You-PleaseEdit

The following 5 November (1998), V blows up the Post Office Tower and Jordan Tower, killing "the Ear" leader Brian Etheridge, in addition to effectively shutting down three government agencies: the Eye, the Ear, and the Mouth. Creedy's men and Harper's associated street gangs violently suppress the subsequent wave of revolutionary fervor from the public. V notes to Evey that he has not yet achieved what he calls the "Land of Do-as-You-Please," meaning a functional anarchistic society, and considers the current chaotic situation an interim period of "Land of Take-What-You-Want." Finch has been mysteriously absent, and his young assistant, Dominic Stone, one day realises that V has been influencing the Fate computer all along, which explained V's consistent foresight. All the while, Finch has been traveling to the abandoned site of Larkhill, where he takes LSD to conjure up memories of his own devastating past and to put his mind in the role of a prisoner of Larkhill, like V, to help give him an intuitive understanding of V's experiences. Returning to London, Finch suddenly deduces that V's lair is inside the abandoned Victoria Station, which he enters.

V takes Finch by surprise, resulting in a scuffle that sees Finch shoot V, and V wounds Finch with a knife. V claims that he cannot be killed since he is only an idea and that "ideas are bulletproof"; regardless, V is indeed mortally wounded and returns to the Shadow Gallery deeper within, dying in Evey's arms. Evey considers unmasking V but decides not to, realizing that V is not an identity but a symbol. She then assumes V's identity, donning one of his spare costumes. Finch sees the large amount of blood that V has left in his wake and deduces that he has mortally wounded V. Occurring concurrently to this, Creedy has been pressuring Susan to appear in public, hoping to leave him exposed. Sure enough, as Susan stops to shake hands with Rose during a parade, she shoots him in the head in vengeance for the death of her husband and the life she has had to lead since then. Following Rose's arrest, Creedy assumes emergency leadership of the country, and Finch emerges from the subway proclaiming V's death.

Due to his LSD-induced epiphany, Finch leaves his position within "the Nose." The power struggle between the remaining leaders results in all of their deaths: Harper betrays and kills Creedy at the behest of Helen Heyer (wife of "the Eye" leader Conrad Heyer, who had outbid Creedy for Harper's loyalty), and Harper and Conrad Heyer kill each other during a fight precipitated by Heyer's discovery that his wife Helen had had an affair with Harper.

With the fate of the top government officials unknown to the public, Stone acts as leader of the police forces deployed to ensure that the riots are contained should V remain alive and make his promised public announcement. Evey appears to a crowd, dressed as V, announcing the destruction of 10 Downing Street the following day and telling the crowd they must "...choose what comes next. Lives of your own, or a return to chains", whereupon a general insurrection begins. Evey destroys 10 Downing Street[20] by blowing up an Underground train containing V's body, in the style of an explosive Viking funeral. She abducts Stone, apparently to train him as her successor. The book ends with Finch quietly observing the chaos raging in the city and walking down an abandoned motorway whose lights have all gone out.

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years

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V FOR VENDETTA MARCH 1981 - MAY 1989 BY ALAN MOORE, DAVID LLOYD, TONY WARE, STEVE WHITAKER, SIOBAHN DODDS

SYNOPSIS (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Book 1: Europe After the Reign On Guy Fawkes Night in London in 1997, a financially desperate 16-year-old, Evey Hammond, sexually solicits men who are actually members of the state secret police, called "The Finger". Preparing to rape and kill her, the Fingermen are dispatched by V, a cloaked anarchist wearing a mask, who later remotely detonates explosives at the Houses of Parliament before bringing Evey to his contraband-filled underground lair, the "Shadow Gallery". Evey tells V her life story, which reveals her own past as well as England's recent history. During a dispute over Poland in the late 1980s the Soviet Union and the United States, under the presidency of Ted Kennedy, entered a global nuclear war which left continental Europe and Africa uninhabitable. Although Britain itself was not bombed due to the Labour government's decision to remove American nuclear missiles, it faced environmental devastation and famine due to the nuclear winter. After a period of lawlessness in which Evey's mother died, the remaining corporations and fascist groups would take over England and form a new totalitarian government, Norsefire. Evey's father, a former socialist, would be arrested by the regime.

Meanwhile, Eric Finch, a veteran detective in charge of the regular police force—"the Nose"—begins investigating V's terrorist activities. Finch often communicates with Norsefire's other intelligence departments, including "the Finger," led by Derek Almond, and "the Head," embodied by Adam Susan: the reclusive government Leader, who obsessively oversees the government's Fate computer system. Finch's case thickens when V kidnaps Lewis Prothero, a propaganda-broadcasting radio personality, and drives him into a mental breakdown by forcing him to relive his actions as the commander of a "resettlement" camp near Larkhill with his treasured doll collection as inmates. Evey agrees to help V with his next assassination by disguising herself as a child prostitute to infiltrate the home of Bishop Anthony Lilliman, a paedophile priest, who V forces to commit suicide by eating a poisoned communion wafer. He prepares to murder Dr. Delia Surridge, a medical researcher who once had a romance with Finch. Finch suddenly discovers the connection among V's three targets: they all used to work at Larkhill. That night, V kills both Almond and Surridge, but Surridge has left a diary revealing that V—a former inmate and victim of Surridge's cruel medical experiments—was able to destroy and flee the camp, and is now eliminating the camp's former officers for what they did. Finch reports these findings to Susan, and suspects that this vendetta may actually be a cover for V, who, he worries, may be plotting an even bigger terrorist attack.

Book 2: This Vicious Cabaret Four months later, V breaks into Jordan Tower, the home of Norsefire's propaganda department, "the Mouth"—led by Roger Dascombe—to broadcast a speech that calls on the people to resist the government. V escapes using an elaborate diversion that results in Dascombe's death. Finch is soon introduced to Peter Creedy, the new head of the Finger, who provokes Finch to strike him and thus get sent on a forced vacation. All this time, Evey has moved on with her life, becoming romantically involved with a much older man named Gordon. Evey and Gordon unknowingly cross paths with Rose Almond, the widow of the recently killed Derek. After Derek's death, Rose reluctantly began a relationship with Dascombe, but now, with both of her lovers murdered, she is forced to perform demoralizing burlesque work, increasing her hatred of the unsupportive government.

When a Scottish gangster named Ally Harper murders Gordon, a vengeful Evey interrupts a meeting between Harper and Creedy, the latter of whom is buying the support of Harper's thugs in preparation for a coup d'état. Evey attempts to shoot Harper, but is suddenly abducted and then imprisoned. Amidst interrogation and torture, Evey finds an old letter hidden in her cell by an inmate named Valerie Page, a film actress who was imprisoned and executed for being a lesbian.

Evey's interrogator finally gives her a choice of collaboration or death; inspired by Valerie, Evey refuses to collaborate, and, expecting to be executed, is instead told that she is free. Stunned, Evey learns that her supposed imprisonment is in fact a hoax constructed by V so that she could experience an ordeal similar to the one that shaped him at Larkhill. He reveals that Valerie was a real Larkhill prisoner who died in the cell next to his and that the letter is not a fake. Evey forgives V, who has hacked into the government's Fate computer system and started emotionally manipulating Adam Susan with mind games. Consequently, Susan, who has formed a bizarre romantic attachment to the computer, is beginning to descend into madness.

Book 3: The Land of Do-As-You-Please The following 5 November (1998), V blows up the Post Office Tower and Jordan Tower, killing "the Ear" leader Brian Etheridge; in addition to effectively shutting down three government agencies: the Eye, the Ear, and the Mouth. Creedy's men and Harper's associated street gangs violently suppress the subsequent wave of revolutionary fervor from the public. V notes to Evey that he has not yet achieved what he calls the "Land of Do-as-You-Please", meaning a functional anarchistic society, and considers the current chaotic situation an interim period of "Land of Take-What-You-Want". Finch has been mysteriously absent and his young assistant, Dominic Stone, one day realises that V has been influencing the Fate computer all along, which would explain V's consistent foresight. All the while, Finch has been travelling to the abandoned site of Larkhill, where he takes LSD to conjure up memories of his own devastated past and to put his mind in the role of a prisoner of Larkhill, like V, to help give him an intuitive understanding of V's experiences. Returning to London, Finch suddenly deduces that V's lair is inside the abandoned Victoria Station, which he enters.

V takes Finch by surprise, resulting in a scuffle which sees Finch shoot V and V wound Finch with a knife. V claims that he cannot be killed since he is only an idea and that "ideas are bulletproof"; regardless, V is indeed mortally wounded and returns to the Shadow Gallery deeper within, dying in Evey's arms. Evey considers unmasking V, but decides not to, realising that V is not an identity but a symbol. She then assumes V's identity, donning one of his spare costumes. Finch sees the large amount of blood that V has left in his wake and deduces that he has mortally wounded V. Occurring concurrently to this, Creedy has been pressuring Susan to appear in public, hoping to leave him exposed. Sure enough, as Susan stops to shake hands with Rose during a parade, she shoots him in the head in vengeance for the death of her husband and the life she has had to lead since then. Following Rose's arrest, Creedy assumes emergency leadership of the country, and Finch emerges from the subway proclaiming V's death.

Due to his LSD-induced epiphany, Finch leaves his position within "the Nose". The power struggle between the remaining leaders results in all of their deaths: Harper betrays and kills Creedy at the behest of Helen Heyer (wife of "the Eye" leader Conrad Heyer, who had outbid Creedy for Harper's loyalty), and Harper and Conrad Heyer kill each other during a fight precipitated by Heyer's discovery that his wife Helen had had an affair with Harper.

With the fate of the top government officials unknown to the public, Stone acts as leader of the police forces deployed to ensure that the riots are contained should V still be alive and make his promised public announcement. Evey appears to a crowd, dressed as V, announcing the destruction of 10 Downing Street the following day and telling the crowd they must "...choose what comes next. Lives of your own, or a return to chains", whereupon a general insurrection begins. Evey destroys 10 Downing Street by blowing up an Underground train containing V's body, in the style of an explosive Viking funeral. She abducts Stone, apparently to train him as her successor. The book ends with Finch quietly observing the chaos raging in the city and walking down an abandoned motorway whose lights have all gone out.

REVIEW

So, let’s just start this review with some honest truth. I came from a country that had several dictatorships and while democracy has been stable for most of my lifetime, countries around my country... not so much. So when I am confronted with a totalitarian government like the one in this novel, I find certain things missing.

For the most part, it is correct, but there is one thing missing. Corruption. And it is quite weird that this element is missing from the story. The only characters who abused their power to do crime, are the Fingermen, and according to Moore, that was an early mistake. Now, this lack of corruption has a reason. No one in this story is supposed to be good or evil. All of them exist in the grey zone. Perhaps that is the reason we do not see that element that most fascist governments have.

Instead, we focus a lot in morality. These characters know that what they did was not correct. And some of them change their mind when presented with new information about the ones they loved. Furthermore, the main characters that are supposed to be in the “good” side, are killers. And you side with these characters for the most part, because you understand them. You may not condone what they are doing, but you know why they are doing it.

Another thing that piqued my mind is the ending. What do you think happened to England after that ending? The people that didn’t know how to vote for so many years... is capable of living in an anarchy? It took Evey a life-threatening situation to find out she was never free in her life. How would people then wake up? I would normally not care that much about it, but in this story, anarchism is presented as the solution, and we never see the solution working. After all, if ideas are bulletproof, so would be the idea of totalitarianism.

Another interesting aspect of this story is V himself. While we never see his face or learn his name, we do know almost everything else we need to know about him. And in the end we do not need to know more. The man becomes an idea for sure, and while he is not good or bad, he seems to know exactly what to do and say in every step he takes. So I feel like his character arc is not much of an arc, is just him executing his plan, with so much precision, that he affects the freewill of other characters. In that regard, I feel like his character is very unrealistic in the context of this story. While we learn all we need to know about him, I don’t think we know how he knew how to make mustard gas and napalm. Or how he learned about literature so much, or when he became an anarchist (this may have been the reason he ended up in the camp).

Now, I watched the movie only once, and I am not thrilled to watch it again. The movie is clearly more against the patriot act, and I understand why they did that. But Evey’s arc is the one I have a problem in the adaptation. In the book, V influenced Evey, only one person, and that is why he went to the extreme of taking freedom away from her, to make her realize she is free. But in the movie, it seems like this was done for no purpose. In the end, everyone is V, how did they wake up? How do we know it isn’t just plain old mob mentality?

Because this story took so long to be finished, there are some pacing issues and the first episodes may contradict the later ones a bit. But overall, I think this is an amazing story, with an incredible amount of craft. This was more of a collaboration than other Moore stories. Lloyd being very influential in the final product. There are some small details about the art that are worth mentioning. The story used to be in Black and White, and I think it was DC that did the re-coloring. Because of that, the art looks a bit odd sometimes. Lloyd’s style was a pulpy chiaroscuro, that just doesn’t have the same effect when you add color separations.

Other than that, the art in this novel always felt hard to the eye to me. With Watchmen, you have great detail in every panel, but you can spend time in them because the art is very clear. In V, the art is more realistic, it has an euro style that fits the story very well. But for regular american readers, it may have been a bit harder to follow (It’s more of an acquired taste. Once you read a few pages, you love it).

Another detail is the roman numbers. The letter V is everywhere in this story and can be traced to door number 5, where V used to be. Well, the roman numbers are also present in all the covers.

It is easy to forget about this masterpiece. Unlike Watchmen, the publishing of this story took almost a decade, which made following it harder for fans (unless you started reading it when DC republished the original chapters). Also, unlike Watchmen, this story is very dark and really makes you think about the world you live in. Like Lloyd said in the introduction, this story is not for the people that do not want to watch the news.

I give this story a score of 10.

#alan moore #david lloyd #v for vendetta #dc comics #comics #review #1981 #1982 #1989 #vertigo comics #modern age

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everybodysacritic · 4 years

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Film Review: V For Vendetta

By: Kyra E.

My Rating: 7.5/10

This Dystopian Film introduces us to 2023: a future of London, England being ruled by an evil Fascist government.

The movie begins with a history lesson about the infamous Guy Fawkes-the man that helped initiate the Gunpowder Plot of November 5th, 1605-who planned to bomb British Parliament and free the people of England.

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” - V (Hugo Weaving)

This becomes important soon after, as it introduces us to the motivation of V. The viewer is introduced to V when our protagonist, Evey, is out after the government-issued curfew. As a group of men are about to attack her, V swoops in and saves the day. However, things take a turn when V brings Evey with him to view him burning down the Old Bailey building in a firework display.

The fact that Evey is a witness to this is enough to make the government want her captured, and so she is forced to run and hide.

In a crucial scene V gets his moment in the spotlight when he breaks into a News room and hijacks the cameras. The brilliant acting shines through the Guy Fawkes mask as V delivers his speech, broadcasting across the nation. The character criticizes the government, and the citizens of London for allowing the government to take away their freedom through fear.

“Truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty you need only look into a mirror.” - V (Hugo Weaving)

V urges the people that agree with him to join him on November 5th at British Parliament to witness its bombing, a plan directly mirroring the Gunpowder Plot. Then after the news broadcast V escapes in an impressive swash-buckling action scene.

Hugo Weaving’s acting is amazing in the way that he is able to convey so much emotion, despite his face being hidden behind a mask the entire time. He is equal parts heroic and terrifying, driving home that anti-hero persona that has since become quite popular in the media.

Of course V is not the only impressive character in this movie. Evey stands beside V in the spotlight as we follow her journey throughout the film: starting as someone who accepted her unfair life and disagreed with V’s tactics, but ending up on his side by the end.

“Of course, he was right, wasn’t he? There is something terribly wrong with this country.” - Gordon (Stephen Fry)

Learning about Evey’s traumatizing past is what makes the audience understand her. When V takes advantage of Evey’s trauma, staging a kidnapping of her friend Gordon in the same way her parents were taken as a child, her desire to take action against the government skyrockets. Soon after V takes her to a jail cell, where he proceeds to torture her, disguised as the government.

The actress’ performance in this scene is extremely well done: in the way that she portrays her character’s heartbreaking yet inspiring reaction to the torture that V inflicts upon her.

“I can’t feel anything anymore.” - Evey (Natalie Portman)

The transformation of this character is what leads to the final act of the movie: the day that V’s plan to bomb parliament finally arrives. V and Evey meet up in an underground train station that has been abandoned.

V gives all of the power to Evey in an interesting turn of events, allowing her to choose whether to set off the explosives or not. While this character’s decision is touching, it seems to clash with who he has been established as. Although this does show character development, the last that the viewers saw of him was when he was torturing Evey, still dead set on getting revenge. It seems to come out of nowhere, completely contradicting this character’s motivation to take down the Fascist government.

In a typical Hollywood fashion there is a romantic declaration between the two characters. The love declaration between Evey and V feels quite forced. They share a kiss that looks awkward since V’s mask kept on.

The next scene has V confront law enforcement officers heading towards the tunnel that are attempting to take down his operation. Everything in this scene is well done: the movement, the acting, the music that swells in the background. The character sacrifices his own life for all that he has worked towards, and is able to defeat the leader of the Norsefire secret police, Peter Creedy (Tim Pigott-Smith).

“Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.” - V (Hugo Weaving)

V’s sacrifice is in vain, because Evey decides to go through with his idea to bomb the British Parliament. Evey, along with many citizens in Guy Fawkes masks, watch as the Parliament Building is blown to pieces.

Overall V for Vendetta is an entertaining film to watch.The plot of the movie was quite successful, however some of the scenes felt out of place. The acting and the dialogue in this film was truly remarkable. I would definitely recommend it to anybody that has not seen it.

#v for vendetta #movie review #dystopian

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