Review of V for Vendetta (2006)
Happy July 4th and welcome to the January issue of Hacker Chronicles!
It's time to review V for Vendetta which influenced hacktivism globally.
Next issue might be late because Friday August 1st is both my youngest daughter's and my birthday and we're planning some nice celebrations.
Oh, and if you want to get ready for a forthcoming review, you should watch the hacker classic Tron from 1982.
Enjoy!
/John
Writing Update
The Binary Release of Submerged should have shipped to my house this past Thursday, July 3rd, but the printer's webpage still doesn't have a tracking ID. I should get the copies within a week and can start numbering and signing them. Sorry for the long wait, but I think the outcome is going to be to your liking!
Taking Notes When Reading
I have for several years taken notes on beautiful and impactful phrasings in books I read. The notes serve as inspiration and training for my own writing and I keep them in the Notes app.
Last week I started moving them from my phone to a handwritten notebook. All in an effort to not have to have my phone near me when I read.
Why? Well, a seminal research study was published in 2017 stating that "your cognitive capacity is significantly reduced when your smartphone is within reach — even if it's off." More recently, a meta study showed a significant negative effect on working memory capacity when your smartphone is present. To stay focused, the brain has to fight the urge to pick up the phone.
Since I read about this research, I've been putting my smartphone far away when I read. Preferably in a different room. And I can tell you it's been a relief.
However, noting those great phrases turned into an issue. Now I have to go get the phone to write down a phrase and then I get sucked in. That's why I started moving my notes to paper. I was so happy when I came up with the solution. Even more so because I could make use of this beautiful notebook I have:
John's notebook.
Handwritten index of John's notebook.
Reviewing the Audio Version of Submerged
Within a week, I need to be done reviewing the audio version of Submerged. I've already discussed my major feedback with the narrator and she's ready to re-record some important bits.
July Feature: Review of V for Vendetta (2006)
"Remember, remember, the 5th of November. The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."
Spoiler Alert: Spoilers below.
Trailer: YouTube
Hacker Rating
Hacker Realism: ⭐️ ⭐️
Hacker Importance for the Plot: ⭐️ ⭐️
Hacks: ⭐️
V for Vendetta isn't a hacker movie so it's not surprising it scores low on hacks. However, it's been very influential in hacktivism, as explored in my May newsletter issue.
It was based on the graphic novel with the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. The Wachowskis wrote the screenplay.
The Movie Premise
Britain is ruled by the fascist, totalitarian Norsefire party, led by High Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt). The population is controlled through TV propaganda. So called "undesirables," such as immigrants, homosexuals, and people of alternative religions are imprisoned or executed.
The Norsefire party sign.
Thoughts
Arguably more oppressive than state-controlled media, propaganda, and draconian laws is the surveillance apparatus China has developed, and its social credit system.
Just two weeks ago, the Chinese military claimed they'd created a new mosquito-sized drone for covert operations:
China's alleged mosquito-sized drone.
I think a totalitarian regime today, with all the technical capabilities available, is far more frightening than the one we see in V for Vendetta.
The Opening Scene
Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) goes out even though there's a curfew. Two shady men stop her in an alley. She threatens to maze them and they turn out to be some form of agents of the police. They get ready to rape her.
V (Hugo Weaving) shows up in his Guy Fawkes mask, beats the crap out of all four men, and invites Evey to listen to a concerto.
V in the alley with his knives.
They go to the rooftop of a tall building. Evey sees no instruments but V insists there will be music. He asks her what day it is. She says November 4th. "Not anymore" he replies. It's midnight and the beginning of November 5th.
Out of the government's speaker system, present in every street corner, blasts Tchaikovsky’s Overture 1812, Op. 49. An ornamented building called the Bailey blows up at the crescendo and fireworks emerge from the crumbling top of it.
V and Evey watching the Bailey blow up.
The day after, the chancellor questions his directs on the investigation of the attack on the Bailey. He is told that "a recording device was found wired into the central emergency broadcast system."
Thoughts
Today, governments can reach everyone via cell- and smartphones, for instance the US Wireless Emergency Alerts system. A broadcast system like the one in the movie has a major drawback in that everyone gets the same message and can hear that their neighbor gets the same message. Today, the sender can personalize messages and decide exactly who gets it, or at least which phone gets it. That is much more powerful in terms of propaganda, but also for an attacker like V.
We don't get to see how V connected to the speaker system to play Tchaikovsky.
The TV Station Takeover
The investigation finds that surveillance cameras have spotted V but he wore a mask.
The cameras also picked up Evey who works at the public service TV station. They get a delivery of boxes full of Guy Fawkes masks.
V enters through the elevator with explosives tied around his torso. He disrupts the news show and brings in the boxes with the masks.
All channels are directed to show the news channel. V forces the technician to broadcast a small laser disc, which features him rallying all citizens to rise against oppression one year from now, on November 5th, and gather at the parliament building. The reference to the gunpowder plot is clear. V intends to blow up the parliament.
V's broadcast on a street corner big screen.
The police finally break down the door to the broadcast room, only to find that V has tied everyone's hands to their backs and put a Guy Fawkes mask on their face. There's no way to tell who's the real V.
As V tries to leave the TV building, the police pins him down at gunpoint. Evey shows up in the background, taps the police's shoulder, and mazes him. He strikes her down before V can intervene.
Thoughts
Broadcast mass media is still considered a key asset for anyone who tries to topple a government. For instance, just days after Russia started their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they went for the capital Kyiv's main TV tower.
Today, so many of us get our news via the internet. Even TV as play on demand. That has a major resilience downside since anything on the internet can more easily be disrupted. Centralized broadcast media is considered much more resilient in crises. It's even built to operate during power outages as long as people have receivers that work, such as hand crank or solar radio receivers.
A major challenge is for people to know that they're being duped. It's one thing if the broadcast is disrupted or if an attacker clearly states that they've compromised the station, such as V does in the movie. But imagine AI-generated content that looks and sounds right, but sends disinformation.
V Kills Off Detention Center Officials
Evey wakes up at V's place. It's full of books and art and there's jazz played from a jukebox. Evey asks where he got all this stuff and V says he reclaimed it from government storage.
The Voice of London, a bombastic TV host who supports the regime is in his shower, watching his latest recording where he says he hopes to get a face-to-face with this terrorist named V.
V shows up just as the TV host gets out of the shower. They have a past where the host was in the military and tortured people. V kills him and the government has to come up with an excuse as to why and how he suddenly died.
The police dig into the Voice of London's past. He was in charge of a detention facility. Records of that facility seem to have been deleted, but they track down a single remaining hard copy.
The detention facility had several medical doctors employed, and a priest who was paid a lot of money. That priest has since become a bishop.
In parallel, V gives Evey an assignment. She dolls herself up and goes to see the bishop in his private quarters. He apparently molests girls. When she tells him that V will come any moment now and try to kill him, he thinks she's playing a game.
Evey dolled up in the bishop's quarters.
V enters, realizes that Evey has tried to save the bishop. She flees. V does not show the preacher mercy.
The police, always a step behind, realize there is now only one person still alive from the top brass at the detention facility. She's the coroner they work with.
V is already at her house. She's been expecting him and she's very sorry for what she did at the facility. We realize V was detained and tortured there, in cell number five, labeled V.
The police get to the coroner's house and finds her dead. But the Chief also finds her journal from her time at the detention facility. Now he knows the truth. He brings it up with the Chancellor, who shuts it down immediately.
Evey Is Captured
Evey flees to her friend, who is the host of a popular comedy show on TV. He explains that he thinks V is right and that they should rise against the regime.
The TV host changes the script of his next episode and mocks the Chancellor. The secret police come to his house, beat him down, and arrest him.
Evey almost gets away but is captured too. She is put in isolation, and unless she helps them find V, she will be executed. They shave off her lovely, curly hair. They torture her. She refuses to eat and sleeps on the concrete floor.
Evey gets her hair shaved off.
Eventually she is sentenced to execution and given one last chance to provide V's identity or whereabouts. She refuses and says she'd rather die.
At that point, she is declared free!
She slowly steps out of her cell, only to find that it's a part of V's underground complex. He's staged the whole thing to free her from fear of death.
Thoughts
This is a wonderfully executed plot twist. If you think too much about it, it's highly implausible that V would have a staged prison cell in his underground compound, ready for this cruel con. It's also weird that she or we as audience never recognize V's voice when he's interrogating her. But in the flow of the movie, you buy it.
The 5th of November
We get closer and closer to November. Hundreds of thousands of Guy Fawkes masks are distributed to the people of London. The Chancellor is furious. They assume the attack on the parliament will come from the sky and prepare as such.
November 5th arrives. V shows Evey how he has a subway train full of explosives and explains how he has cleared the shut-down tracks underneath the parliament building. He leaves it to Evey to decide if she will make the train go there since she is part of the future of the country.
There is a showdown where the head of the secret police tries to get out of V's crosshairs by delivering him the chancellor. V kills him but refuses to give himself up. There is a shootout where V gets fatally wounded but still manages to kill the head of the secret police.
Masses of people in Guy Fawkes masks march on parliament. The national guard does not get an order and stands down.
The masses in masks, marching on parliament.
V returns to say goodbye to Evey before he dies. Evey puts V's dead body on the train and sets it off. The parliament is blown up to Tchaikovsky’s Overture 1812, Op. 49.
V lies with roses on the train full of explosives.
Remarks
V for Vendetta depicts an uprising against oppression with a superhero-like figure to lead it. The masses don't actually do anything but show up in masks. Not even Evey acts much.
There is a bit of that in hacktivism too. My impression is that the number of hackers who actually hack for the purpose are few compared to the large supporting mass. The ability of the few is supported, and kind of justified, by the many.
My impression from history class and documentaries is that the uprising against communism in the Eastern Bloc was based on the power of the masses. Sure, there were glowing leaders like Lech Wałęsa and even leading agents of change from within the Communist Party such as Mikhail Gorbachev and Imre Pozsgay. But for instance the Monday demonstrations in East Germany were the masses invoking change.
Linked to the Anonymous hacktivism collective was the Occupy movement 2011-2016. That was also a mass action across almost a thousand cities and in eighty countries.
The reason why I compare these with the movie is that the mask, and its symbol of anonymity, is really about common folk as a collective. Masks are there to make people look the same and be able to act together without implications for each individual. V for Vendetta inspired that in the hacker community, even though the movie is much more about a single leader with superpowers and a single focus.
Currently Reading
No changes since last time. I'm still reading Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe and The Dragon Lord.