A couple of weeks ago, Jordan and some of his co-workers invited me to join them at the Alamo Drafthouse to see V for Vendetta. Within the first few minutes, I was in love with it.
It's a story about a mystery man simply called "V", who fights for freedom against a totalitarian government which was once democratic. I didn't know Hugo Weaving was beneath the mask - I just knew that it was V, and that he was speaking to both the 12 year old and the 28 year old inside of me.
Two parts of this movie were enchanting. The first part: Between ages 12 and 14, I was deeply and irreversibly charmed by Edgar Allen Poe, Little Women, Vincent Price, Dickens, and a touch of Shakespeare. Jo, in Little Women, was me - tomboy, bookworm, dreamer, talkative. Three things which almost went completely away, but never one - the dreamer. I still think Mr. Poe and Mr. Price are dark, poetically theatrical masters of inner conflict, that Dickens weaves magic onto the page, and that Shakespeare makes spoken English sound musical. Hugo Weaving is classically trained, and uses his voice and body language marvelously for V - and though V doesn't seem to have a lot of inner conflict, the movie still brings out the sort of love I have for Poe and Price through Evey.
Around 14 years old, a close relative called me an idealist. I got the impression that this wasn't really a good thing, but I couldn't do anything about that. My books kept me company. I would search high and low for anything that would make me feel less isolated, and unfortunately it wasn't until a few years ago that I stopped feeling that way. I had to break away, in a way. I started to realize that this country needs more people like me.
This brings me to the second part of the movie that enchanted me: As an adult, I'm frustrated with certain types of people. To keep things light I'll spare you my political views, but I can say that being an "idealist" in this country is not easy, and I can't (and won't) change something so fundamental about myself. So, when I see a masked man in a movie whose appearance seems to come straight out of my imagination, who embodies things I loved as a girl, and fights for ideas I hold very close as an adult, I feel like dancing.
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