V For Vendetta

V for Vendetta reminded me of our very own Rang De Basanti. Both films are popular clarion calls to fight the corrupt state and both show how the mass media or the government can be ever so easily subverted to whip up a mass revolution. Like Rang De..., V for Vendetta has also found critics neatly divided along the ideological line— one set appreciating its attempt to articulate public anger and frustration, the other calling it "irresponsible". The attack on the film has been particularly scathing in Britain. Could it be because it denounces the stiff upper lip genteel England as an irredeemable menacing dystopia without dwelling on the rogue ally, usa? Uncle Sam, actually, gets dismissed as the "world's biggest leper colony". Strange if writers Wachowski Brothers meant this as a diatribe against the US-UK coalition!

V... is a bizarre, farcical, political allegory-cum-thriller. Set in the future, it presents a banana republic Britain, under the thumb of a despot, a queer mix of Lenin and Hitler. The country is a sanctuary of biological warfare, bird flu, detention centres, homophobia and racism, a place where owning a copy of the Quran is a surefire route to execution. And in this Orwellian world a masked stranger, V, is on a mission to awaken the somnolent janta in the grips of propaganda TV. How? By seeking inspiration in Guy Fawkes and blowing up the British Parliament. He finds help in Evey (Portman).

The portrayals might seem tacky or over-the-top with too many unexplained and unbelievable turns of the plot. But despite its flaws and seemingly disconcerting message, the film packs in a punch. However simple its take on terrorism might be, it does raise a valid point in the aftermath of 9/11: that one man's terrorist is another man's crusader. It states unequivocally that terrorists are a creation of state policies, that governments make monsters out of simple men and can't escape the consequences. In the film's scheme of things vendetta ain't so bad. The hope of a new, equitable world order lies in the debris of a dictatorial regime. Like V says: "Sometimes violence can be used for good... ."

V... may not pass muster with the politically aware but easily manages to talk to the complacent, apathetic majority. There might be many problems with its style and execution but the film believes in the "power of ideas", ideas that can prod, provoke, or talkof change .

High Fives

Bollywood
1. Malamaal Weekly
2. Rang De Basanti
3. Being Cyrus
4. Taxi No 9211
5. Souten: The Other Woman

Hollywood
1. Take The Lead
2. The Benchwarmers
3. Brick
4. Friends With Money
5. Lucky Number Slevin