This weekend I watched an amazing film. V for Vendetta. Finally, a film about England that is, yes mainstream, but more importantly, inspirational, challenging, revolutionary and every so slightly anarchistic. When I say anarchistic, I mean that blowing up the houses of parliament is may not be the correct way to get things changed, but my god, those fireworks looked awesome in the finishing scene.
V for Vendetta is, without exaggeration, one of the best films I have ever seen. Walking along the streets, I keep hoping that I’ll see a large ‘V’ carved or sprayed onto propaganda in my city, sprayed on billboards and buildings. I want it to be everywhere. I keep hoping to see, along with a myriad of ‘V’ symbols, people in V masks, V cloaks. I want a revolution, dammit!
I was surprised, and ecstatic to discover that around 100 people protested outside the White House, all dressed as ‘V’. Click here to read the article.
I hope that this film has made people wake up to the serious issues, the real problems that we face in the UK; the way our liberties are being stripped away in the name of terror; how are privacy is being removed in the name of fighting crime – the issues in V for Vendetta are real. And, more shockingly, if you look around, you can see it happening now.
Despite the film being shunned by many anarchists (e.g. ‘A for Anarchy’) due to the removal of important anarchist scenes, it is still a great film, that I’m sure will have a large impact on the public in the UK, and hopefully, in dictatorships acrross the world.
This is an important film for the UK, and one that should be seen by anyone shocked or angry about what is happening before our very eyes. While the film is not a call for terrorism on the scale of destroying the houses of parliament like Guy Fawkes attempted in the 16th century, it is more a call to arms, a call for unity, revolt and transcendence.
Remember, remember the fifth of November. Because it should never be forgot. Guy Fawkes attempted to destroy parliament because of religious reasons, but our vendetta is different. This is a social, and political vendetta. We want our rights back. And, we most certainly are going to get them.
