Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November...

     This weekend marked the anniversary of Guy Fawkes day, which, in turn, marks the anniversary of the annual watching of "V for Vendetta" (at least it does for me). This movie's theme is much like the theme of "Matilda" (see my previous post) in that it discusses overcoming one's fears and standing up to the bad guy. Only in this movie, it's done on a larger scale. The year is 2020, and Britain has become a fascist, totalitarian dictatorship. The citizens of England live in fear of their government, which lies to and sparks fear in its people in order to gain power. It is up to the masked avenger known as "V" to start a revolution against corruption and lead the downtrodden British citizens to revenge and victory.
     But also, there's a young woman named Evey thrown into the mix. She is one of the main characters and represents the hundreds of thousounds of British citizens who have been oppressed by their government's tyranny. Through England's horrifying use of medical experimentation, she lost her brother, and through their unyielding forbidding of free speech, she lost her parents. Naturally, Evey, like everyone else, grows up living in fear of the government. She is afraid to stand up to the injustices because she doesn't want to lose her life. Her fear, however, disappears when she meets V.
     V meets her one night when Evey unfortunately runs into the secret police and faces the possibility of losing her life for breaking curfew. V jumps to her rescue, though, and thus begins the forming of an alliance between the two. As the movie progresses, we see Evey becoming braver and braver. Shortly after meeting V, Evey returns his favor by rescuing V from the secret police by spraying pepper spray in the officer's eyes. Evey surprises herself by doing this, but V himself is not surprised. He tells her that there was a reason she acted the way that she did, and thus implies that she should continue revolting against the authoritarian figures.
     Evey's true metamorphosis occurs during the movie's strangest scenes, when she is held and tortured as a prisoner. While in prison, she denies the food she's given (even the rats won't eat it). However, she finds sustenance in another source--letters being written to her from a mysterious person, another woman. From this woman, she finds out that another person has suffered just like her, and that even though this woman doesn't know Evey, "I still love you." This final message gives Evey the strength she needs to finally face the fear that has been holding her back: death.  forw
     When the guard finally comes for the last time, Evey calmly tells him that she would rather die than reveal the whereabouts of V. The guard responds, "You are without fear, then. You are now finally free," and Evey exits the prison and enters the world as a completely different person. From this point forward, she becomes an accomplice in V's plot to blow up Parliament, something that Evey never would have dreamed of doing before. V for Vendetta asks a lot of questions about the justification of violence. Regardless of what you think the answer to that question is, it  is clear that Evey has found the answer for herself, and chooses to bravely act on it. At the beginning of the movie, we hear Evey say that she doesn't know if blowing up Parliament will change anything (something I agree with, but I digress). She then continues with, "Every time I've seen this world change, it's always been for the worse," making herself a passive victim to the injustices happening around her. At the end of the movie, it is clear that Evey no longer thinks of herself as a victim. She believes she is a force who is capable of changing things...for the better. A message that more women need to believe.