Remember the 5th of November

“Remember, remember the fifth of November, the gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason Should ever be forgot. . .”
Recently I had the opportunity to see the film “V for Vendetta”. I was intrigued about this film before I really knew what it was about, though I cannot explain why. The movie is based on a series of comic books which were compiled into a graphic novel. The story was first published in 1981 and based the futuristic stories in 1998.
The premise for the story is that the United States has suffered a great civil unrest and additional outside violence and has collapse. The reason given for the collapse of the Empire of the United States was moral degradation. The British Government is in the control of a moral zealot who imposes laws on all types of morality. Additionally, there are laws against speaking against the government and curfews imposed on the people. The government does audio sweeps of areas to ensure that there are no terrorist activities or any speaking out against the government.
We are introduced to the hero of the story V once he saves the beautiful Eve, portrayed by Natalie Portman. V is disguised in a mask resembling Guy Fawkes, who in 1606 attempted to destroy the parliament building. V then destroys the Old Bailey, the central courthouse in England. Eve then becomes a willing captive of V. There he teaches her that the government has exceeded its bounds and must eventually come to an end. A favorite line is, “People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments; Governments should be afraid of their people.”
The remainder of the film shows the plan to destroy the parliament building, much like Guy Fawkes attempted to do hundreds of years earlier.
There are a number of different people that will try to draw a message from the movie, such as “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” or “the current government is encroaching on the rights of the people, much like the fictional government in the movie.” One thing that I think is important to remember in watching this movie, is that it is fiction. The story was created in the early 80's and has no relevance to the current day. It is purely for entertainment value. And as far as entertainment goes, it was. I was thoroughly entertained by the movie.
Should someone insist on taking a message away from the film, it should be that people should rule their countries and not some few elites. The way people rule their countries is to vote and to be active in their community. Join a party, attend a rally, organize a rally, vote, volunteer for a candidate, support the armed forces, join the armed forces, lobby a representative. There are number of things one can do to be active in the community. So go see the movie and simply enjoy it and then be involved in your life and country.