The 10 Greatest Moments of Gun Powder, Treason and Plot in ‘V for Vendetta’
6. A Rooftop Symphony
Blaring Tchaikovsky’s Overture (1812) over the government announcement systems, V takes his first strike against those in power with his destruction of the Old Bailey, all the while conducting the non-existent orchestra with a charisma we’d come to appreciate.
5. Finch Spares Evey
The people of London, Guy Fawkes masks adorned, walk their way to parliament in hope and expectation of being freed by their revolutionary. It is the scene in the movie that perhaps most signifies the change caused by V’s actions and is potentially the strongest signifier for the new-found unity of the people. But, just as V is loaded into his underground casket, Red Roses surrounding him, Finch finds Evey at the trigger (in this case a lever) as the new Guy Fawkes. He could shoot, he could arrest her, but he doesn’t. The character tasked with studying and finding V, lets his foe complete his journey, signifying the completion of V’s ideological impact. All that’s left for him to do is complete his task.
Finch: Why are you doing this?
Evey: Because he was right.
Finch: About what?
Evey: That this country needs more than a building right now, it needs hope.
4. The Revolutionary Speech
It’s one of the most viewed movie speeches on YouTube and one of the most iconic moments from the movie.
“Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you’ve seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.”
