"V" is for Very Brazil

Just saw “V” for Vendetta tonight and am curious what other people thought of it? Definitely has some interesting, Brazil-like ideas about the future and what madness is to come - but had that slick, perfect skin, perfectly lit, composed and shot, expertly set dressed feel to it (yes, I realize it is a comic book but COME ON!) and that made it harder for me to take the serious message, well, seriously. Plus, all the blood squirting made it a little silly (again, yes, I am aware it is a comic book!). Some parts had me in stitches like Evey getting tortured for weeks and reacting to this painful experience by whining, “You cut MY HAIR!!" Horrors.


Luckily, Evey/Natalie is drop dead gorgeous with or without hair (and perky nipples always help). But there were some thought provoking sentiments as well such as: “Ideas are bulletproof.” In general, it was an entertaining, beautiful, slightly thought provoking big budget thriller.

But I could have done without all the crap "love" scenes between Evey and V - although their "kiss" had me back to the giggles again. Probably my favorite moment in the movie was when there was a long, quiet, pregnant pause before Evey and V danced for the first/last time (ooh, feel the non-existent tension!) and someone in the theater let out a little, yet long, fart. The 8 or so people dispersed throughout the place giggled like crazy. It made the awkward, lack of chemistry 'tween Evey and V all the more funny. Oh dear Hugo Weaving, how did your sexy-self become such a wet blanket??


I find the reviews of this film interesting as well. You have David Denby in The New Yorker ripping it to shreds and taking a long, long time to do so (me thinks Mr Denby liked this film more than he admitted) and then you have cheese ball Kurt Loder patting it on the back and wishing there had been less politics to get in the way. In fact, they both seemed to be annoyed by the political overtones. Granted, perhaps they were a little sloppy in their presentation of some hot button issues BUT I would rather have the film address them and push them out into public discourse (especially if it is getting to a different segment of the population) than not go there at all.

When I think about the Ominous Future (as I do often I am afraid and have since I was a wee child being brought up to believe I would die in an A-bomb attack - THANKS MOM!), I tend to imagine a world such as the one put forth in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil." The Tuttle/Buttle mix up is the sort of thing I imagine happening in the future. You are sitting around minding your own business in your dilapidated apartment building (again, this grittier vision of the future works better for me than the slick, clean surfaces of V - YES! I know it is a comic book!!!!) and the special government forces come to take you away. No talk, no discussion, no reading of rights, just a black bag over your head and good-bye to your family forever. It is creepy and perhaps it IS the constant fear of intellectuals, artists, dissenters, queers, Jews and all disenfranchised Others that eventually, "someone" will "come for them." And we will have no rights and no options. We will just disappear. How real is this fear? Probably more real than we would all like to believe.

I also imagine a future such as is portrayed in Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" trilogy (can't wait for these goodies to be films!), the Mad Max trilogy, The Matrix trilogy, Blade Runner and A Clockwork Orange. One wonders what to do to take America and the world off these creepy tracks. It is all so big and so hard to stop. Again, I fear the Ominous Future as portrayed in Brazil - perhaps more than any of the others. A world where terrorism is an everyday occurrence and the dinner table next to you exploding does not interrupt your tranquil 5 star dining experience. Is this where we are heading? How to pull the emergency break? Is there a way to do it without sending explosions down a subway tunnel and blowing up Parliament/The Tube/The Twin Towers?

I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
Anne Frank

We are doing a student matinee of "The Diary of Anne Frank" next month. I went to visit the house in Amsterdam that Anne and her family hid in back in 2001. I didn’t expect the house to affect me as much as it did. The floorboards held ancient spirits and the walls practically breathed memories, thoughts, claustrophobia, hopes and suffering. Anne's bedroom still had the remnants of faded film star's pictures she had glued up. To Anne, these photos must have been like a window to an outside world which she could not access, a glimmer of hope in the midst of all that darkness. We all know the quote where Anne talks about still seeing good in people despite all the suffering and evil she has endured. That is the beauty of hope. It allows you to keep your heart open even in the darkest days.

And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world.
- Anne Frank

And again, this was another place that I disconnected from Vendetta's Evey. When she is thrown in the cell she crumples into a little ball and remains that way stubbornly as she undergoes days/hours of solitude confinement. This struck me as false. Granted, the Franks had an entire attic in which to move around quietly at night but it was still a small space and, despite their restrictions and fear of being discovered, life continued in the attic. Anne had a crush on a boy, they argued over food rations and Anne dreamt of the outdoors and film stars. And life goes on, no matter what the hardship. Perhaps I am being naïve but I saw myself in that jail cell, enduring the worst-case scenario, solitary confinement and no hope of release. And I saw myself, yes, crying and crumpling, but then, getting up and doing some yoga, and probably talking to myself like a crazy person, and then singing every song I ever learnt, and then making up fantastic stories to entertain myself. Yes, I am sure insanity would set in eventually (perhaps it already has?), but that is the thing about humans, we keep on trying none-the-less. What else can we do?

I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.
Anne Frank

I think the filmmakers of Vendetta tried to give this hopeful message to us with the endearing note left by a former cell-dweller. That was a sad story I could get behind and it was moments like these that rung true and real…until the oh so pretty lesbian, model-montage began - but hey, I like nice visuals as much as the next guy.

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.

It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

-Anne Frank, 1929-1945

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Oh, and back to the Uglies, Ominous Future thread, this new song by Pink deserves a shout out and her video is definitely worth a gander!






PINK LYRICS

Stupid Girls


Stupid girl, stupid girls, stupid girls
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
What a paparazzi girl, I don't want to be a stupid girl

Go to Fred Segal, you'll find them there
Laughing loud so all the little people stare
Looking for a daddy to pay for the champagne
(Drop a name)
What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees
Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?
Oh where, oh where could they be?

Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
What a paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blonde hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl

(Break it down now)
Disease's growing, it's epidemic
I'm scared that there ain't a cure
The world believes it and I'm going crazy
I cannot take any more
I'm so glad that I'll never fit in
That will never be me
Outcasts and girls with ambition
That's what I wanna see
Disasters all around
World despaired
Their only concern
Will they **** up my hair

Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
What a paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blonde hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl

[Interlude]
Oh my god you guys, I totally had more that 300 calories
That was so not sexy, no
Good one, can I borrow that?
[Vomits]
I WILL BE SKINNY

(Do ya thing, do ya thing, do ya thing)
(I like this, like this, like this)
Pretty will you **** me girl, silly as a lucky girl
Pull my head and suck it girl, stupid girl!
Pretty would you **** me girl, silly as a lucky girl
Pull my head and suck it girl, stupid girl!

Baby if I act like that, flipping my blonde hair back
Push up my bra like that, stupid girl!

Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
What a paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blonde hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl