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The movie version of V for Vendetta came out in 2005. That's four years after 9/11 for those of you too lazy to do the math. The film is a loose version of the comic. Obviously some of the world events that happened after the original comic have influenced the film. I realize I've already touched on this back in Politcal Ponderings but for a second there I had a much more fully realized vision of what I'd like to say. It's gone now so I'll have to wing it.
The above quote comes from about a half hour into the film. I don't know if it appears in the original graphic novel. But I have to say that it certainly resonates with today's audience. The movie presents a post-apocalyptic United Kingdom; a world in which the United States has begun a war it couldn't finish.
Sounds a little real, doesn't it?
A terrorist blows up the Old Bailey in London (to which the quote refers) and attempts the demolition of the Parliament buildings in the end. Mostly for revenge. But also to change the world. And he succeeds. The people rise and topple their oppressive totalitarian government. Gives you hope, doesn't it? Makes you think we can make a difference? That we can change the world if we act together? That we can make it a better place? For a minute at least. Until you realize we may be on the other end of the story, that we may not be the disenfranchised people, rather that we might be the restrictive government.
It's a funny world of "us" and "them" and "they" want us to believe that we are the righteous, the god-fearing, the enlightened few, the meekly brutal who shall inherit the future for faith or by bullet.
I don't know who is right and who is wrong. I don't know the means nor the end to which they lead. All I know is that my opinions don't match those of the girl in the next room, the person closest to me in the world let alone a group of people large enough to enforce a revolution. And there's the crux, the cross upon which we crucify ourselves. The utopia of today is the dystopia of tomorrow. The vision we share now is a startling mirage we may fear in the future. What works for one may not be what works for another. I dream of a world of socialized medicine, equal opportunities and higher education. But for others the world is a greedy place of fortune, inheritance and oppression in order to keep it. Indeed, even in a world of my dreams, how bland would it all be? How do you enforce a vision? You can't hold a gun to a dream and "the people" is but a passing - if reoccurring - dream.
A building was blown up almost eight years back and it changed the world. Not for the better. But are we the victims or the perpetrators? Did we rise to fight injustice? Does injustice exist? Or did we suffer the consequences of our police-state actions - "the people" rising in revolt to our oppression?
In another movie moment, a life story of Che Guevara is set to be released soon, starring the talented Benicio del Torro. A review I read today said the film is far from the truth, claiming Hollywood has glamourized a brutal man. I misquote, "...if it weren't for his ideology, Che would have been nothing more than a brutal serial killer." I don't know the truth and am only vaguely familiar with the history of the man. I believe he was a vicious killer. And I believe he had a good if misguided cause. On the one hand there is a real world example of the people rising together in an attempt to create something better for themselves and more or less failing in that attempt. On the other hand... well, it didn't work out so well. Still, I feel a need to defend the glamour of the horror. Hollywood may be presenting us with a faux version of the events. But isn't that what we need? Not the utopia itself. Not a united world. We need the dream. Or we fall victims to ourselves.
