V for Vendetta essay. The scene which I will be analysing takes place after Evey is tortured in imprisonment, and occurs near the end of the film.

by urmipatel2204gmailcom (student)

The film V for Vendetta, directed by James McTigue, is based in a dystopian world full of censorship, lies, and a controlling government regime. The film focuses on V (a vengeful masked man who is trying to bring down the government) who has a special connection with a girl called Evey.

The scene which I will be analysing takes place after Evey is tortured in imprisonment, and occurs near the end of the film. This scene begins when Evey is released from the detention centre, and when she dazedly walks out of the detention centre, only to find herself in the shadow gallery with V. Evey eventually connects the pieces and realises that it was V who had tortured her (to gauge her trustworthiness), and that she had been put in a fake detention centre. At first, Evey is distraught at how numb she now feels due to her torturous time in the detention centre, and she is also enraged at V's betrayal and his lies. However when Evey starts to calm down (with the help of V's assuring words), she is able to realise the value of freedom, and is able to strip down the lies she had been fed to discover her true, fearless self.

The director (James McTigue) has cleverly used lighting, dialogue, symbolism and music to enhance the bone chilling, triumphant, and hauntingly beautiful mood in this scene. These techniques also help to portray crucial messages that give more insight to the movie as a whole.

Dialogue

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Dialogue

While Evey is panicking - after she found out that V had put her in a fake detention centre - V is trying to make her see his perception on why he had to lie to Evey. So, with a low and magnetic voice (that was bearly intelligible because Evey was breathing so heavily) V quoted"Your own father said that artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie, because you believed it and found something true about yourself." Evey's heavy breathing reflects her panic that and hurt in the situation (she has been lied to), and so we, humans with naturally caring natures, feel pity towards Evey. However, a conflicting mood for the audience is created when V's dialogue is heard, because he quotes it in a calm way, and with so much conviction, that we become are left in shock. But one would be left even more awed by the complexities and underlying messages of this quote. When V refers to artists using lies to tell the truth, I think he meant that artists may paint fictional things, but fundamentally they are trying to provoke real emotions. Just like that, V had convinced Evey that the her worst fear was happening (which was that she had been caught by the government), so she no longer had anything to afraid of, and was able to discover her true self; a girl who was fearless and calm. Furthermore, I think that as Evey was growing up, she had constantly been fed lies and had learnt to fear the government, so when she was able to realise her hidden hatred towards the government (especially after reading the letters from Valarie describing the horrific things done to her), she was able to see where her values really lied. I think the main message was that only when you have withstood your fears, are you able to be fearless.

I think that the director chose this dialogue for V primarily because throughout the movie, the audience were already questioning V's rationality (like when laughed - rather psychotically - after he bombed up Old Baily), and so they would have thought he was completely insane when he tortured Evey for no apparent reason. Although this quote did a great job to give insight into why V did this to Evey.