Khairudin Lee // Creative Hub

Would you prefer a lie or the truth?

Monday December 15, 2008

I was surfing Amazon for bargain DVD deals to purchase where I stumbled upon V For Vendetta’s product page. I’ve seen the movie before, I’m interested in this particular 2 discs special edition. There, instead of reading reviews of the product I got endless reviews of the movie itself. How informative to buyers. If I want movie reviews, I’ll go to Imdb.com why thank you. But that is a rant for another post.

So then, I observed and read all these nonsensical comments and reviews stating just how bad the movie was because it is anti-American, anti-religion, anti-government, anti-Christianity, anti-whatever else you can call it. It’s even being labeled as propaganda.

I delved deeper into a particular hot debate in one of the post, titled, “Is V (main character in Vendetta, in case you haven’t watched it yet) Anti-Christian?” only to find ‘devout’ religious practitioners and atheists alike yo-yoing on the defensive and offensive. Wow. Fortunately, there were a handful of rational and pragmatic members/comments that made me realise, human kind is not a lost cause after all.

Here’s my take on the topic itself. So is V an anti-Christian/religion? My answer is no. However, I’m not a Christian, I’m a Muslim. But does it really matter what I am? Does it matter what your skin colour is, your status, your sexual orientation or religion is? It doesn’t. You can be black, yellow, brown, a Christian, Jew, Buddhist, rich, poor, lesbian or gay but if you’re a good person and nice to me, then you are to me. Whatever opposing beliefs and faith you have it is not up to me to decide nor to judge you as a person.

BUT if you must, then judge a person by his actions, NOT his association. To punish someone, let the proper law and higher (divine?) authority do that. Be and do good and look at ourselves first and foremost (note to self: checked!). But being imperfect humans that we are, we tend to err. So it’s always good to take a step back from time to time to reflect our actions and consult our thoughts and feelings. I’m very imperfect, I have my vices, I’m not that smart and I’m highly contradictory at times. And I’ll be the first to admit to all that.

Well anyways back to the topic. Like what another member posted/mentioned, I too think the movie is just intended to be a warning in a political sense. To put it simply, power in the wrong hands (sometimes even in the right ones) will and can corrupt. Governing for the people is very crucial, in being very truthful and transparent. If such constitution fails, the power naturally shifts to the people then. So let it be a warning to such governments who borders on fascism and totalitarianism. Last but not least, what I got from this film was, the sole uniting element to topple evil wasn’t skin colour, wasn’t religion, wasn’t whether you’re straight or gay, rich or poor. It is Freedom, to be able to think, act and live. And to disregard that is a crime to humanity, a crime to ourselves.

In conclusion, V for Vendetta is not only a good film, but also a good movie. The message is there for all of us to extract (you take the good, you minus the bad, obviously.) and learn from. Yes, this is a short conclusion and it shall suffice. If you wanted a complete review of the movie itself, then you’d have gone to Imdb.com five mins ago. Now that you’ve read my commentary, do yourself a favour, go watch V For Vendetta (if you haven’t already) and perhaps we can share a banter or two afterwards.

// Filed under: Stimuli

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