2008 Woodie Awards
'V' eschews sex for torture
Marcus Funk
Issue date: 3/24/06 Section: Opinion
People should not be afraid of their governments, but people should not be afraid of insane Machiavellian zealots, either. "V for Vendetta" should have been titled "D for Disappointment" or "I for Immoral."
The problem with "Vendetta" is not that the final scene involves pulverizing the houses of Parliament; that part I can understand, given the circumstances. What I can neither understand nor forgive is the film's justification and endorsement of graphic, painful torture. In the film, the pure and innocent Evey (Natalie Portman) tells the "hero" V (Hugo Weaving) that she is tired of being afraid of the fascist, Orwellian dictatorship.
So, his solution is to impersonate government troops, capture her, shave her head and violently torture her for several weeks to remove her fear of the government. He then threatens to kill her if she doesn't confess to him V's whereabouts, and, when she refuses, he proclaims that she is fearless and forever free, and she actually buys it. She decides that she has never felt better, is better adjusted to function in society and has in fact fallen in love with the man who violently abused her.
This is absolutely absurd and illogical, let alone outright immoral. Torture is a cruel and evil act that is designed to desecrate the body and utterly destroy the individual, not a morale booster or an aphrodisiac. And yet, Evey never questions the torture nor does she decry her captor. Had it been more obvious the act was inherently evil, then perhaps I could accept V's status as an anti-hero; to be honest, I fully expected that declaration, since screenwriters Andy and Larry Wachowski were so obsessed with duality and causality in their "Matrix" films. But that condemnation never came.
There's not really much debate on torture anymore: These are pretty much proven facts, and I'm not the only one who feels that way. A few weeks ago, the Amnesty International student group sponsored a series of readings on the sadistic and evil nature of torture which were wildly successful. And, on Oct. 5, 2005, the U.S. Senate voted 90 to nine for John McCain's (R-Ariz.) Detainee Amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Bill, which was designed to forbid and abolish American torture. And, you know, if Amnesty International and Republican senators actually agree, they must be on to something.
The problem with "Vendetta" is not that the final scene involves pulverizing the houses of Parliament; that part I can understand, given the circumstances. What I can neither understand nor forgive is the film's justification and endorsement of graphic, painful torture. In the film, the pure and innocent Evey (Natalie Portman) tells the "hero" V (Hugo Weaving) that she is tired of being afraid of the fascist, Orwellian dictatorship.
So, his solution is to impersonate government troops, capture her, shave her head and violently torture her for several weeks to remove her fear of the government. He then threatens to kill her if she doesn't confess to him V's whereabouts, and, when she refuses, he proclaims that she is fearless and forever free, and she actually buys it. She decides that she has never felt better, is better adjusted to function in society and has in fact fallen in love with the man who violently abused her.
This is absolutely absurd and illogical, let alone outright immoral. Torture is a cruel and evil act that is designed to desecrate the body and utterly destroy the individual, not a morale booster or an aphrodisiac. And yet, Evey never questions the torture nor does she decry her captor. Had it been more obvious the act was inherently evil, then perhaps I could accept V's status as an anti-hero; to be honest, I fully expected that declaration, since screenwriters Andy and Larry Wachowski were so obsessed with duality and causality in their "Matrix" films. But that condemnation never came.
There's not really much debate on torture anymore: These are pretty much proven facts, and I'm not the only one who feels that way. A few weeks ago, the Amnesty International student group sponsored a series of readings on the sadistic and evil nature of torture which were wildly successful. And, on Oct. 5, 2005, the U.S. Senate voted 90 to nine for John McCain's (R-Ariz.) Detainee Amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization Bill, which was designed to forbid and abolish American torture. And, you know, if Amnesty International and Republican senators actually agree, they must be on to something.