So, if a pop song has a political agenda, can it ever truly divorce itself from its popism? No. But it can either inspire or (and this is the argument I generally believe) placate by causing the listener to believe the mere act of listening vicariously makes them political. What, then, can be said of V is for Vendetta which was released on DVD yesterday. It is a rather exciting indictment of our contemporary governmental system. Not once does it ever pretend to be anything else. And it is also a quite literate work of action cinema. The wording is refreshing - especially from a genre who has lately offered such unprecedented exclamations as "Bring it!" The casting is beautifully daring - Stephen Fry, Stephen Rae and John Hurt! sounds like fun to me. Rae is the silent star (he will never truly be big enough to carry a picture) and his weathered mug is always greatly appreciated. What is perhaps the strangest endeavor of the film is its overt homosexual agenda. I'm none to sure that the film is capable of provoking the response it would desire from our iPod culture. Outside the system? What does that mean? And yet, the marketing of the film, with its propagantastic posters, in some ways defeated the film's intent. Can a commercial film really be politically subversive, through and through? It's tricky. V is a film which moved me, but I can't say that it would seem to pull people from the loveseat to actually heed the film's warning. In my book that qualifies as failed intent. But I strongly urge you to judge for yourself.