Remember, Remember the Fifth of November...

Last Wednesday was November the fifth, also known as Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night. In tribute, my girlfriend and I rewatched V for Vendetta, for her second time and my 42nd time. I must say, I absolutely love this movie and I could watch again and again without getting tired of it. But there are two flaws that jump out at me every single time I watch it, and I want to discuss them here (note: spoilers to follow)









First is the fact that while V certainly identifies an evil that exists in his Britain and works to destroy it, he doesn't have any good with which to replace it. Aside from a brief reference to vox populi in his opening alliterative speech, V says absolutely nothing about what should be, politically. In a sense he recognizes this himself, when he gives the choice to Evey about whether to blow up parliament, but even then it is not made explicit nor does he give a reason why we should care about Evey's choice more than his. Luckily, the movie doesn't explicitly offer nothing in response to what currently exists, it just doesn't explicitly offer anything, which allows room for you to substitute your own desired system, which is not ideal but isn't terrible.

The other part which bothers me on a visceral level every single time I watch it is when V leaves Evey at the train to go die and achieve justice against "his maker". While justice is in fact a virtue, it is only such because it is a fundamental part of having a full and happy life. If justice must come at the cost of one's life and there won't be a world worth living in if it isn't achieved, then V would have been justified in doing what he did. But at this point in the movie, V had already won. He had almost the entirety of Britain on his side and had Creedy and Sutler distracted so they couldn't give the firing order, and, more importantly, he had something to live for: Evey. There was absolutely no reason he had to die, since, as even he himself realized, he no longer existed only to exact justice; he was now in love.

Although these are somewhat major flaws, I must emphasize that all in all this is an amazing film, and if you haven't seen it this month (or worse, this lifetime), then I demand you drop everything you're doing right now and go rent it.