in a world increasingly more diffi easy to understand, in which the progress of recent years are overshadowed by troubling events as the rise of groups and leaders who openly question the democratic standards and even the basic rights and dignities of persons, the dystopia has become a genre of great success among readers and viewers around the world.
For lovers of this type of fiction, November 5 is not one any day. This date, apparently without importance among the public holidays and other important days of the autumn season, is one of the most iconic elements of the classic “V for Vendetta” (V for Vendetta, in English, which was translated as “V of vengeance” in some countries Latin-American) film directed by James McTeigue and premiered in 2005. Even though the original story is a few decades older: the film is set in the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, who appeared as a comic book series between 1982 and 1988.
A plan: explode the Parliament on behalf of freedom in the Ribbon, set in a hypothetical future just around the corner, United Kingdom has become a totalitarian State of fascist cut and a man at the same time extravagant, tender, bitter and intellectual attempts to free the citizens from the clutches of totalitarianism. His master plan: to blow up Parliament in the air.
“Remember, remember, November 5…”, recites the character of “V”, a sort of musketeer whose mask turned to the world to be adopted by the Anonymous movement, which since 2008 has carried out various initiatives and actions of protest in defense of the freedom of expression and the ideal anarchists, both inside and outside internet.
Why this day? Far from being a capricious choice, “V” plans to sink their roots in British history: the anniversary of the conspiracy of the gunpowder plot, a plot failed against the Protestant aristocracy of the Kingdom. A group of English Catholics provincial intended to blow up the houses of Parliament London during a ceremony that took place on November 5, but finally the discovery permitted in time of the conspiracy that the Protestant dynasty of the Stuart was not overthrown.
Day today, different countries of the Commonwealth, including the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa, as well as some parts of United States, celebrate the anniversaries as the Guy Fakes night, one of the protagonists of the plot, which was finally sentenced to death.
An icon of resistance citizen since its appearance, the film has become a symbol of resistance against the totalitarianism and undemocratic governments. As every year, on the day of this Monday (05.11.2018) social networks have flooded with famous quotes and references of the film. “My father used to say that the artists lie to tell the truth, while politicians lie to hide it,” he says in the film Evey, played by Natalie Portman. Categorical assertions of “V”, character that Hugo Weaving, are some of the most repeated references: “the people should not be feared their leaders; rulers are who should fear the people.”
Although the film received equally strong criticism, especially of the most conservative sectors and even Christian groups, there is no year that do not resonate in the large and small screens “V” words: “Remember, remember, November 5,…”. Especially in an era in which the opponents of democracy and human rights seem to be fashionable.
