5 Reasons Why You Should Watch V for Vendetta

The film that almost ignited a revolution | spoiler-free review

Photo by Ahmed Zayan on Unsplash

“Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.”

V for Vendetta is a 2006 film directed by Australian director James McTeigue and produced by Lana & Lilly Wachowski, along with Joel Silver. The Wachowskis also scripted the film. It is not an original story but an adaptation of the 1982–1989 graphic novel of the same name, written by the highly acclaimed British writer Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd.

The graphic novel, in turn, was partly inspired from the true story of Guy Fawkes, who along with a group of co-conspirators tried -and failed- to blow up the British House of Lords. The plan was to kill King James I and all the House of Lords and House of Commons members, who were in attendance for the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November 1605.

The reason their plot failed was due to an anonymous letter to the authorities that blew the whistle on the plan. Guy Fawkes was arrested in the evening of November 4, on the eve of the planned detonation, along with 36 barrels of gunpowder in a rented cellar right under the House of Lords. If that letter had not been sent everyone would have died within a range of 100 meters, and the history of the UK would have fundamentally changed.

I first saw V for Vendetta at the cinema in April 2006, a couple of months after I came back from a 2-month stay in Scandinavia, largely Sweden (I wrote a 🔞️ poem about a certain ‘adventurous night’ I spent in Stockholm that year). This is probably not going to be a very balanced review, because since that night V stole my heart and I still consider it one of the best films of all time; certainly the best politically charged / anti-fascist film.

So, without further ado, here are the 5 reasons why you should watch V for Vendetta — or rewatch if you watched it ages ago and barely remember it:

1. The two leads are phenomenal

The primary character V is performed by Hugo Weaving (of LOTR, Matrix films and MCU fame), while Natalie Portman (MCU films, Leon and…