relevant cinema

This week's trip to the movies was for The Wachowski Brother's V for Vendetta, a savvy political comentary about the power of government over the indifference and fear of it's people. The principal character, V, is an homage to Guy Fawkes, a 17th century Englishman who attempted to blow up Parliament to start a people's revolt against the government. People should not fear their government but the government, rather, should fear its people. That is, if the people are willing to stand up. It takes a leader, someone to pave the way, and here we find V. It's a little 1984, a little Farenheit 451, and a pretty good movie so check it out.

In the news this morning, I read where the US is not accepting the results of this weekend's presidential election in Belarus (former Soviet Union) and is calling for an investigation into potential fraud and a new vote. The reasoning is that the incumbent leader, Alexander Lukashenko, provided a context of fear that lead the people to feal they no choice but to vote for his re-election. Governments have used fear and threats for centuries to create the perception of public support and the reality of control over the general populace. Vendetta uses this idea, borrowing 1984's premise of creating the news to show the people how much they need their government as protection against the world at large, empowering the totalitarian regime.

It's really interesting to me how much we accept as fact and how much trust we place in the powers that be, as if some upper-class Ivy leaguers could ever really understand the needs of the the remaining 270 million or so people they make decisions for. At what point does the power we assign through democracy translate into power being taken away from the people?

I'm not paranoid or turning into a conspiracy theorist by any means, I just enjoy a thought provoking film every now and then, especially when history and current events provide credibility. Happy Monday!