Daily Dialogue — December 7, 2013
V: I’m sorry, but Mr. Deitrich’s dead. I thought they’d arrest him, but when they found a Koran in his house, they had him executed.
Evey Hammond: [whispers] Oh God…
V: Fortunately, I got to you before they did.
Evey Hammond: You got to me? You did this to me? You cut my hair? You tortured me? You tortured me! Why?
V: You said you wanted to live without fear. I wish there’d been an easier way, but there wasn’t.
Evey whispers, “Oh my God…?
V: I know you may never forgive me… but nor will you understand how hard it was for me to do what I did. Every day I saw in myself everything you see in me now. Every day I wanted to end it, but each time you refused to give in, I knew I couldn’t.
Evey Hammond: You’re sick! You’re evil!
V: You could’ve ended it, Evey, you could’ve given in. But you didn’t. Why?
Evey Hammond: Leave me alone! I hate you!
V: That’s it! See, at first I thought it was hate, too. Hate was all I knew, it built my world, it imprisoned me, taught me how to eat, how to drink, how to breathe. I thought I’d die with all my hate in my veins. But then something happened. It happened to me… just as it happened to you.
Evey Hammond: Shut up! I don’t want to hear your lies!
V: Your own father said that artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.
Evey Hammond: No.
V: What was true in that cell is just as true now. What you felt in there has nothing to do with me.
Evey Hammond: I can’t feel anything anymore!
V: Don’t run from it, Evey. You’ve been running all your life.
Evey Hammond: [gasps] I can’t… can’t breathe. Asthma… asthma! When I was little…
V reaches out his hand, Evey grabs it, they fall to the ground together.
V: Listen to me, Evey. This may be the most important moment of your life. Commit to it.
Evey continues sobbing.
V: They took your parents from you. They took your brother from you.
Evey groans.
V: They put you in a cell and took everything they could take except your life. And you believed that was all there was, didn’t you? The only thing you had left was your life, but it wasn’t, was it?
Evey sobs, “Oh please…?
V: You found something else. In that cell you found something that mattered more to you than life. It was when they threatened to kill you unless you gave them what they wanted… you told them you’d rather die. You faced your death, Evey. You were calm. You were still.
Evey continues gasping.
V: Try to feel now what you felt then.
Evey Hammond: [breathes heavily] Oh God… I felt…
V: Yes?
Evey Hammond: I’m dizzy. I need air. Please, I need to be outside.
— V for Vendetta (2005), screenplay by Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is Fear. Today’s suggestion by James Smith.
Trivia: The name Evey is pronounced EV, with E being the fifth letter of the alphabet, V being five in Latin and Y being the 25th letter (5 squared).
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by James: “There is a scene in “V for Vendetta” when Evey has just conquered her fears and immediately faces the realization that the scenario was not real. While the experience was superficial on the outside; it was real to her.
It may not seem as obvious of a fear as falling to ones death but the invisible fears based on fear is extremely limiting and her awakening is very powerful.”
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