V For Vendetta

[Socrates]

I haven't seen the movie, and don't really have a desire to, though I have read the Allan Moore graphic novel it was based on. Moore (who also wrote [i]Watchmen[/i] and [i]From Hell[/i], among others) can be a brilliant story-teller, though his world-view is pretty messed up.
The novel (which I found excessively dreary, even though I am generally a fan of dark distopias) did tend to equate Christian religion/morality and opposition to homosexuality with repressive fascism. The fascist government was officially "Christian," and Christianity is nowhere shown in a postive light.
This is in keeping with Moore's loony-left politics (in the '80s, when V was written, he believed that AIDS was part of a Conservative plot to wipe out homosexuals, among other things). For the far-Left, fascism, conservatism, and the Church tend to be seen as all basically the same thing.

From what I've read, it seems the movie was "dumbed-down" somewhat from the book. Moore wanted his name removed from the credits because he said they had taken his original vision of "the opposites of Anarchism vs. Fascism," and turned it into "liberals vs. conservatives." Moore identifies himself as an Anarchist.
From what I've heard, it seems the movie drew comparisions between the fascist English government and the Bush administration.
When the "hero" of the story is a bomb-throwing terrorist, this can be problematic, and seen as glorfying terrorism. Moore's V, I think, is intended as a morally ambiguous figure.

It would be quite a stretch to call [i]V for Vendetta [/i]"pro-Catholic."
Guy Fawkes was a Catholic, but in England is known primarily as a traitor.
"Guy Fawkes" day was celebrated in England by burning effigies of Guy Fawkes (on which V's costume is based).
Guy Fawkes was chosen as V's symbol, not because he was Catholic, but because he was famous for trying to blow up Parliament - thus being a symbol of violent opposition to the government.

[Farsight one]

This movie is no more anti-Catholic/Christian than "300" was anti-Persian or South Park is anti-Jew. So it presented a few make believe Christians in a negative light. Whoopdy doo. Every time someone points out that pope such and such had illegitimate children or that there is a child molestation problem among Catholic clergy, what is our response? That the sins of a few do not and should not reflect on the total of all Catholics. A Catholic presented in a negative light isn't necessarily a stab at all Catholicism. The characters are just bad people who happen to be Catholic. If the movie had any hidden agenda behind it, I would say it was to suggest that the government had a hand in 9/11, but it doesn't really matter.

And more directly on the subject - I enjoyed the movie immensely. Well done, well acted, good balance of action and dialog.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1408464' date='Oct 24 2007, 10:13 AM']V is pro catholic

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), was a member of a group of English Roman Catholics who attempted to carry out the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I of England, to destroy Protestant rule by killing the Protestant aristocracy, on 5 November 1605.

woot-woot...



Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.[/quote]

[sarcasm]And murdering people is so very Catholic.[/sarcasm]

[ardillacid]

Isn't terrorism targeting civilians in order to make them paralyzed from fear? When does V target civvies?

[ardillacid]

Isn't terrorism targeting civilians in order to make them paralyzed from fear? When does V target civvies?

[N/A Gone]

apparently everyone missed how sarcastic I was being.

St. Thomas more. Plenty of catholics have killed others.

[DemonSlayer]

Elizabeth: The Golden Age seems to be very anti-Catholic based on the trailer, like the first one.

[kamiller42]

[quote name='The Joey-O' post='1408461' date='Oct 24 2007, 11:05 AM']Equilibrium? Out of all the fantastic sci-fi/fantasy government conspiracy movies out there and you pick Equilibrium? Equilibrium was entertaining because it employed Matrix camera styles and gun fights. Other than that, it had nothing going for it. It was a bad spin on sci-fi classics.[/quote]
Are you saying no movie can employ techniques that work from other movies? So I guess The Passion of the Christ was horrible because it's not the first to put Jesus' Passion on film. No, it IS great because it has a certain touch the others don't.

Judge the film for its script and not the "look" of scenes.

[quote]I think that religious views being pushed isn't anti-Christian. It's anti-fascist Christianity. It's against those that try to force others to be a specific religious view. Now, the fact that it would associate fascism with Christianity is sad but common. And, I am almost certain that it's not anti-Catholic. I'm fairly sure that the Bishop who tries to abuse Evey is Anglican. V actually talks a little bit about God, but his views seem a mix between general Islamic theology and Deism.[/quote]
Where was the balance? Where were the good faithful Christians? It's been a while, but I don't remember any. Too few if at all.

[quote]What I got from this movie, that I felt was both powerful and useful can be best expressed in this line: "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." It's up there with Ben Franklin's "Those who sacrifice liberty for security will lose both and deserve neither."[/quote]
I am glad you found that moving, but that's hardly a new story or movie concept. People rising up against "the Man" has been done time and time again.

The sad thing about the quote is how abused it can used. Pro-choicers could throw it up as their rationale for legal abortion. Sounds good, but but application can be tricky.

[sarcasmguy126]

i haven't seen V for Vendetta (sounds sick, though), but how about Kingdom of Heaven?! Why are the Christians portrayed as the evil, cruel men who want to wipe out the poor innocent Muslims (Bloom himself is a "Christian" who murders a man in the beginning and then goes to the Holy City seeking forgiveness, and while there, commits adultery with the queen--"I'm outside of God's grace", he notes...I wonder why). Thank God I didn't have to see that whole film.

More films that I haven't seen but are controversial: Munich, Harry Potter...uhhh help me think of more. I know there are...

I have to comment that Gibson didn't use the Passion to attack Jews, but I discovered that in reality William Wallace never committed adultery with princess (as the film portrays), and although the King's son was historically gay, the prima nocte was never used by the English historically. And Gibson's Wallace was this great man of Christ. I suppose that movie could be considered offensive, but it still is in my top 5.