V for Vendetta (film)

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Spoiler warning: Plot, ending, or solution details follow.

V for Vendetta is a 2006 film set in a dystopian future United Kingdom, where a mysterious anarchist works to bring down an oppressive and fascist government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters.

Directed by James McTeigue. Written by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, and adapted from the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

1 V
- 1.1 Paraphrased from other sources
- 1.2 Quoted from other sources
2 Evey Hammond
3 Others
4 Dialogue
5 Taglines
6 Cast
7 External links

[edit]

V

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." -- V's introduction to Evey

(In simpler words) Behold! Before you is a humble stage performer, cast, against his will, by the whims of fate, to the roles of both victim and villain. The face you see now is not just some meaningless costume. It is a remnant of the People's Voice, which has since gone and disappeared. However, this past annoyance stands courageously reborn and has sworn to conquer the evil and corrupt, who promote greed and the violent suppression of free will. The only choice is vengeance; a personal war held as a candle to the darkness, but not in vain, for the importance and self-evidence of this quest shall exonerate the watchful and the righteous. But in truth, this thick soup of words has become too excessive. So, let me simply finish by saying that it's my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me V.

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security, the familiar, the tranquility, repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the annunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance, and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillence coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

Fear became the ultimate tool of this government.

(Appearing out of thin air in front of Creedy's men.) Penny for the Guy.

No. What you have are bullets and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer standing, because if I am, you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

But if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

There are no certainties, only opportunities.

Evey, please. . .there is a face beneath this mask, but it's not me. I'm no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it, or the bones beneath them.

Our story begins, as these stories often do, with a young up-and-coming politician (Sutler). He's a deeply religious man and a member of the conservative party. He's completely single-minded and has no regard for the political process. The more power he attains, the more obvious his zealotry and the more aggressive his supporters become. Eventually, his party launches a special project in the name of national security. At first, it's believed to be a search for biological weapons and is pursued without regard to its cost. However, the true goal of this project is power; complete and total hegemonic domination. The project, however, ends violently. But the efforts of those involved are not in vain, for a new ability to wage war is born from the blood of the victims. Imagine a virus, the most terrifying virus you can, and then imagine that you and you alone have the cure. But if the ultimate goal is power, how best to use such a weapon? It is at this point in our story that along comes a spider (Creedy). He is a man seemingly without a conscience for whom the ends always justify the means, and it is he who suggests that their target should not be an enemy of the country, but rather the country itself. Three targets are chosen to maximize the effect of the attack; a school, a tube station, and a water treatment plant. Several hundred die within the first few weeks. Fueled by the media, fear and panic spread quickly, fracturing and dividing the country until at last the true goal comes into view. Before the St. Mary's crisis, no one would have predicted the results of the election that year, no one. But not long after the election, lo and behold, a miracle. Some believed it was the work of God Himself, but it was a pharmaceutical company controlled by certain party members (Prothero & others) that made them all obscenely rich. A year later, several extremists are tried, found guilty and executed while a memorial is built to canonize their victims. But the end result, the true genius of the plan, was the fear. Fear became the ultimate tool of this government, and through it our politician was ultimately appointed to the newly created position of High Chancellor. The rest, as they say, is history.

That's it! See, at first, I thought it was hate too. Hate was all I knew, it imprisoned me, taught me how to eat, how to drink, how to breathe. I thought I would die with all the hate in my veins. But then, something happened. It happened to me, just as it happened to you.

(Leaning over the jukebox) There are 872 songs in here...I've listened to them all, but I've never danced to any of them.

[edit]

Paraphrased from other sources

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. (paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson - "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.")

A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having. (paraphrase of Emma Goldman)

It means that I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence. (paraphrase of an infamous Albert Einstein quote)

[edit]

Quoted from other sources

"The multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him." (Macbeth)

"Disdaining fortune with his brandished steel/which smoked with bloody execution..." (Macbeth 1.2.17-18)

"We are oft to blame in this. 'Tis too much proved that with devotion's visage and pious action we do sugar o'er the devil himself." (Hamlet 3.1.46-49)

"And thus I clothe my naked villainy/With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ;/And seem a saint, when most I play the devil" (Richard III 1.3.336-38)

I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. (Macbeth 1.7.17-18)

"Conceal me what I am, and be my aid/For such disguise as haply shall become/The form of my intent." (Twelfth Night)

Remember, Remember
The fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

[edit]

Evey Hammond

God is in the rain.

You did this to me? You cut my hair? You tortured me? You tortured me! Why?

I worried about myself for awhile. But one day I was at a market and a friend, someone I'd worked with at the BTN got in line behind me. I was so nervous that when the cashier asked me for my money I dropped it. My friend picked it up and handed it to me. She looked me right in the eye and didn't recognize me. I guess whatever you did to me worked better than I'd ever have imagined.

Because he was right. This country needs more than a building right now. It needs hope.

Tell me, do you like music, Mr. Finch?

(In response to Finch asking, "Who was he?") He was Edmond Dantes. And he was my father. My mother. My brother. My friend. He was you, and me. He was all of us.

Everyone remembers what happened that night and what it meant for this country. But I will always remember the man and what he meant to me.

Are you like a crazy person? (in response to the above "V monologue")

I wish I wasn't afraid all the time but... I am.

I can't feel anything anymore!

(to Gordon) Are you mad?

Thank you, but I'd rather die behind the chemical shed

We are told to remember the idea, not the man. Because a man can fail. He can be killed and forgotten. But four hundred years later an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed firsthand the power of ideas. I've seen people kill in the name of them; and die defending them. But you cannot touch an idea, cannot hold it or kiss it. An idea does not bleed, it cannot feel pain, and it does not love. And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man. A man who made me remember the fifth of November. A man I will never forget.

[edit]

Others

Lewis Prothero: I read that the former United States is so desperate for medical supplies, they've alledgedly sent several containers filled with wheat and tobacco. A gesture, they said, of good will.

1st Fingerman: By sunup, if you're not the sorriest piece of ass in all o'London, then you'll certainly be the sorest.

Strength Through Unity
Unity Through Faith

Man: [After sticking up a store] ANARCHY IN THE U.K.!

(Written on the mirror) Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici ("By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe." - not from Goethe's Faust but Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus )

Finch: If our own government was responsible for the deaths of almost a hundred thousand people, would you really want to know?

Dascomb: Why not? This is the BTN. Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That's the government's job.

Sutler: Gentlemen, I want this terrorist found. And I want him to understand what terror really means.

Dominic: Pucker up, here comes the Finger.

Lewis Prothero: (repeated line) England prevails!

Creedy: (repeated line; incredulous) Bollocks!

Bishop Lilliman: It wasn't labor that I was speaking of, but rather my final remittance. My last little joy.

Finch: With so much chaos, somebody will do something stupid. And then things will turn nasty. And then, Sutler will be forced to do the only thing he knows how to do. At which point, all V needs to do is keep his word.

Security Guard: You show me ID, or I'll get Storm Saxon on your ass!

Gordon: You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it.

Gordon: I think this could be the best show we've ever done.

Finch: One thing is true of all governments. The most reliable records are tax records.

Finch: The problem is that he knows us better than we know ourselves. That’s why I went to Larkhill last night... I had to see it. There wasn’t much left but when I was there it was strange. I suddenly had this feeling that everything was connected. It was like I could see the whole thing, one long chain of events that stretched all the way back before Larkhill. I felt like I could see everything that had happened and everything that was going to happen. It was like a perfect pattern laid out in front of me and I realized that we were all a part of it and all trapped by it.

Valerie: I'd only told them the truth. Was that so selfish? Our integrity sells for so little, but it's all that was really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free.

Valerie: I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.

Valerie: What I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that though I do not know you and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

[edit]

Dialogue

Evey Hammond: You're getting back at them for what they did to her. And to you.

V: What was done to me created me. It is the basic principle of the universe, that each action will have an equal and opposing reaction.

Evey: Is that how you see it? Like an equation?

V: What was done to me was monstrous.

Evey Hammond: And they created a monster.

V: "We are oft to blame in this. 'Tis too much proved that with devotion's visage and pious action we do sugar o'er the devil himself."

2nd Fingerman: What does that mean?

V: "Spare the rod..."

Interrogator: I'm instructed to inform you that you have been convicted by special tribunal and that, unless you are prepared to offer your cooperation, you are to be executed. Do you understand what I'm telling you?

Evey Hammond: Yes.

Interrogator: Are you ready to cooperate?

Evey Hammond: ...no.

Evey: V, yesterday I couldn't find my ID. You didn't take it, did you?

V: Would you prefer a lie, or the truth?

Evey: Did you have anything to do with this?

V: Yes, I killed him.

Evey: Who are you?

V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of "what", and what I am is a man in a mask.

Evey: Well I can see that.

V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

Evey: Oh...right.

V: But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.

V: Tell me, do you enjoy music, Evey?

Evey: I suppose.

V: You see, I'm a musician of sorts on my way to give a very special performance.

Evey: What kind of instruments?

V: Percussion instruments are my specialty, but tonight I intend to call upon the entire orchestra for this particular event, and would be most honored if you would join me.

Evey: I don't see any instruments.

V: Your powers of observation continue to serve you well. But wait! (taps a nearby pipe with a conductor's wand) It is to Madame Justice that I dedicate this concerto, in honor of the holiday she seems to have taken from these parts, and in recognition of the imposter that stands in her stead.

Creedy: Defiant until the end, huh? You won't cry like him, will you? You're not afraid of death. You're like me.

V: The only thing you and I have in common, Mr. Creedy, is that we are both about to die.

Creedy: How do you imagine that'll happen?

V: With my hands around your neck.

Creedy: Bollocks. We've swept this whole place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.

V: No. What you have are bullets and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer standing, because if I am, you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.

Creedy: That's impossible. Kill him!

(Creedy's men open fire on V, who remains standing after their clips are empty)

V: My turn.

Evey: I missed this song.

V: I wasn't sure you'd come.

Evey: I said I would.

Evey: My father was a writer. You'd have liked him. He used to say that artists use lies to tell the truth while politicans use them to cover the truth up.

V: Hmmm, a man after my own heart.

Evey: He always told the best stories. Until my brother died. Then everything changed.

Dominic: I don't get it. Why does he wear a Guy Fawkes mask and then blow up the Old Bailey? Didn't Fawkes try to blow up Parliament?

Finch: It's not too late. He's still got another sixteen hours. Maybe he's just getting started.

Finch: (incredulous) Dascomb...

Dascomb: Do you have any idea how long it would take to rebuild this facility?

Finch: Do you have any idea what you're doing?

V: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Evey: And you're going to make that happen by blowing up a building?

V: The building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by their people. By itself, a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world.

Evey: I wish I could believe that. But every time I've seen this world change, it's always been for the worse.

V: Oh! Um, I hope I didn't wake you?

Evey: No, it's just that I thought you were fighting. I mean for real.

V: My favorite film! The Count of Monte Cristo, with Robert Donat as Edmund Dantes.

Evey: I've never seen it.

V: Really? Would you like to?

Evey: Does it have a happy ending?

V: As only celluloid can deliver.

Evey: Okay. Put the sword away.

Evey: She's lying.

V: How do you know?

Evey: She blinks a lot when she's doing a story she knows is false.

Evey: Gordon, I know it's terrible of me to come here, to put you in this kind of danger.

Gordon: Evey-

Evey: If they find me here, you could be in terrible trouble!

Gordon: Evey, listen to me. If the government ever searched my house, you would be the least of my problems.

Gordon: Yes, Evey. I am V. At last you know the truth. It's hard to believe, isn't it, that underneath this wrinkled and well-fed exterior there lies a dangerous killing machine with a fetish for Fawkesian masks. Vive la revolution!

Evey: (Realises he's being sarcastic.) That's not funny, Gordon.

Gordon: I know. I'm useless without a studio audience.

Evey: What is that?

Gordon: It's a copy of the Koran. Fourteenth century.

Evey: Are you Muslim?

Gordon: No, I'm in television.

Delia Surridge: Oppeinheimer was able to change more than the course of a war. He changed the entire course of human history. Is it wrong to hold on to that kind of hope?

V: I've not come for what you hoped to do. I've come for what you did.

Delia: It's funny. I was given one of your roses today. I wasn't sure you were the terrorist until I saw it. What a strange coincidence that I should be given one today.

V: There are no coincidences, Delia. Only the illusion of coincidence. I have another rose, and this one is for you.

Delia: Are you going to kill me now?

V: I killed you 10 minutes ago, while you slept.

Delia: Is there any pain?

V: No.

Delia: Thank you. . .Is it meaningless to apologize?

V: Never.

Delia: I'm so sorry. (dies)

Evey: Where did you get all this stuff?

V: Oh, here and there. Much of it from the vaults at the Ministry of Objectionable Materials.

Evey: You stole them?

V: Heavens, no. Stealing implies ownership. You cannot steal from the censors. I merely. . .reclaimed them.