"Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."
And so begins one of the most intellectually/emotionally moving movies I have ever seen. In the movie the protagonist is the lone dissenting voice in a country of suppressed people. People are afraid of protesting and are too involved in their everyday activities to concentrate on the task of supervising the executive. The protagonist devises an elaborate and shocking way to express the collective frustration of the society. He decides to establish a symbol so potent and explicit that it doesn't die easily.
His romantic interest who plays the calming force to his rebellion tells him, "if anybody does show up you can be bloody sure that Creedy will blackbag every one of them"
The protagonist pauses for a moment and replies, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
This is by far the most powerful message portrayed in the film. It forces you to sit up and ask yourself, is this really true? Is this is what being practised in my country? Is my goverment really afraid of its people? If there is an iota of doubt in answering the above question then the correct answer is NO.
What is happening in India is a watered down version of the events shown in the movie. Even though the present might not be as extreme as in the movie, who is to say anything about the future? We live in a country where blood, honour, respect, sacrifice are just words to be uttered to hide the obvious impotency within. Anywhere you look on the television, whatever you decide to read on the newspaper the vivid display of desperate craving is abundant. The pain of the suffering has become so banal that it has ceased to shock anymore. It takes the depravity of the brutal rape of a young woman with rusted iron rods to make the nation sit up and take notice. Like drug addicts numbed by the daily dose of barbiturates, it takes a really big dose of insanity to deliver that kick. What has happened to a nation brought up on a unrelenting diet of values and culture that needs a hyperbole to grab it's attention?
The real reason might be that nothing has really changed. In a society used to being ruled over, freedom meant it had to think for itself. And where does a society sculpted by borrowed ideology find the wherewithal to think for itself? If only we knew.
And so begins one of the most intellectually/emotionally moving movies I have ever seen. In the movie the protagonist is the lone dissenting voice in a country of suppressed people. People are afraid of protesting and are too involved in their everyday activities to concentrate on the task of supervising the executive. The protagonist devises an elaborate and shocking way to express the collective frustration of the society. He decides to establish a symbol so potent and explicit that it doesn't die easily.
His romantic interest who plays the calming force to his rebellion tells him, "if anybody does show up you can be bloody sure that Creedy will blackbag every one of them"
The protagonist pauses for a moment and replies, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
This is by far the most powerful message portrayed in the film. It forces you to sit up and ask yourself, is this really true? Is this is what being practised in my country? Is my goverment really afraid of its people? If there is an iota of doubt in answering the above question then the correct answer is NO.
What is happening in India is a watered down version of the events shown in the movie. Even though the present might not be as extreme as in the movie, who is to say anything about the future? We live in a country where blood, honour, respect, sacrifice are just words to be uttered to hide the obvious impotency within. Anywhere you look on the television, whatever you decide to read on the newspaper the vivid display of desperate craving is abundant. The pain of the suffering has become so banal that it has ceased to shock anymore. It takes the depravity of the brutal rape of a young woman with rusted iron rods to make the nation sit up and take notice. Like drug addicts numbed by the daily dose of barbiturates, it takes a really big dose of insanity to deliver that kick. What has happened to a nation brought up on a unrelenting diet of values and culture that needs a hyperbole to grab it's attention?
The real reason might be that nothing has really changed. In a society used to being ruled over, freedom meant it had to think for itself. And where does a society sculpted by borrowed ideology find the wherewithal to think for itself? If only we knew.
