What does "V" stand for?

As you may know, if you read this fairly often, I was pretty excited to see V for Vendetta. I've had a hard time writing this review because, in one way I really liked the movie, and in another way, I totally disagreed with what it was saying. I want to explain myself, but it could be difficult summarizing what I think about the movie. So, whatever happens, here goes ...

The good news ...
The film was beautiful. I loved the shadowy atmosphere, the mostly subdued acting, and, most of all, the imagery. You never see V's real face, only his Guy Fawkes mask. This would be tough to pull off in any movie, but V does it brilliantly. Pretty much all of the acting was great. I thought Natalie Portman was great as Evey Hammond (maybe a little redemption after the Star Wars prequels) and really enjoyed the scenes with the villians of the story, not to mention Hugo Weaving acting behind a mask the whole time. It is a little weird to hear Elrond/Agent Smith quoting Shakespeare ...

What I liked most about the movie was the philosophy that it included. I think this quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin neatly summarizes one of the main ideas of the film: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Though V is basically on a mission of revenge, he uses it on behalf of the people of the country. He wants to wake them up from their passivity towards an unjust government. Much of the negative hype about the movie has said that it is promoting terrorism. This is based on a superficial view of the movie. You could call people fighting the Nazi government in France terrorists if you followed that standard. The movie is really about the people of a country holding their leaders responsible and not simply sitting and allowing injustice.

V is a complicated here because, while he is really fighting for justice and freedom, he is selfishly carrying out his vendetta against the people who destroyed his life. He comes across as a little insane, but, in the end, causes positive change.

In all of this, the movie was great.

The bad news ....
Simply stated, the movie had an agenda, and I definitely felt like I was being preached at while watching it. What was this agenda? There were several examples that showed how the filmmakers felt about the state of the world:
- The government seemed to be vaguely Christian and, as can be expected, it was racist, homophobic and intolerant. Homosexuals, Muslims, and political dissidents were all persecuted, many of them placed in concentration camps and killed.
- The only representative of organized religion, a (possibly Anglican or Catholic) bishop was shown to be a hypocritical pedophile who used his position for pleasure and power.
- In the end, we find out that it was the government itself that caused the bio-terrorist tragedies alluded to in the film, allowing their ascent to power.

The focus on V as either a terrorist or freedom fighter is missing the real problem with the movie. V for Vendetta seems to be the Wachowski brothers' rant against what they percieve as the American conservative government, basically, the Bush administration.

If you agree with them, the film may be great, but as a Catholic Christian, I couldn't help but feel like the movie was saying that organized Christianity is evil. The movie does not distinguish between Christianity and conservatism in government and doesn't even distinguish between various Christian denominations. The filmmakers seem to believe that they are all part of one system of oppression

In conclusion ...
I enjoyed watching the movie for its artistic value and the ideas of fighting injustice and holding governments responsible for their actions, but the obvious prejudice against Christianity and stereotyping of Christians cast the rest of it in a bad light.

(Here's a review from Decent Films that may clarify what I'm trying to say.)