Evey Hammond is the true heroine of the movie, and it is through her eyes that we follow the story. She becomes simultaneously V’s point of vulnerability as he falls in love with her, but also his strength and motivation as she comes to represent the spark of latent humanity still unextinguished in the many inhabitants of the totalitarian state. With the (unwelcomed!) help of V, she undergoes an extraordinary personal transformation throughout the story, as she throws off the shackles of psychological oppression and starts to discover her true potential.
The Evey in the beginning half of the film is fearful. When faced with any sign of violence, she always hides beneath something, whether it be a bed or a table. Hiding under objects is a subconscious reaction to feeling threatened and wanting to be protected – a characteristic of Evey’s which can be attributed to her unorthodox childhood. Her parents were political activists who opposed the government, despite the threat of persecution. The threat becomes reality when Evey is abruptly woken from sleep and told to hide under the bed. Both objective views and point-of-view shots are used to show Evey’s mother being beaten and ‘black-bagged’, an act which involves the placing of a black hood over a victim’s head in a manner reminiscent of how Gestapo in World War Two would treat their prisoners. Evey tells V “I’m sorry I’m not a stronger person. I wish I wasn’t afraid all the time, but I am”. The audience now comprehends the ordeals that have shaped Evey into a fearful being. This quote also serves to foreshadow the morphing of a timid Evey into an assertive Evey.
In the later half, Evey begins to develop into a strong person after facing hardship and finding the inspiring autobiography of a previous prisoner. Following her abduction, she is subjected to torture in order to break her spirit and divulge information about V. An example of this was when her head was forcefully held under water. Her captor proceeds to pull her up and commands her to “Just tell us where he [V] is”. Face defiant, she firmly replies with “I don’t know”. This mid shot can be compared to the mid shot of Evey when she first arrived at the holding facility, where she was whimpering and shaking so hard that she could not respond to the interrogator’s questions. Her emergence from the water is similar to the act of baptism, wherein an imperfect and flawed person is submerged in water briefly before rising out of it as a new creation. Evey’s afflictions teach us that the vicissitudes of life mold and enhance our character, much like how intense heat hardens clay. This knowledge gives us strength to persevere, even in the direst of times.
After her release from captivity, a new Evey stands in the rain on a balcony. “God is in the rain”, she says while looking up at the heavens, quoting the contents of Valerie’s letter. She raises her hands in a V for victory and also as an act of thanks to God.
We live in constant fear every day. Fear of being unaccepted and lonely. Fear of losing. Fear of humiliation. Fear of sickness and death. Fear of persecution. These phobias can be overcome, though, if we are willing to change. While we are living in a much different society to the one painted in ‘V for Vendetta’, we can still identify with Evey and learn from her bravery in the face of overwhelming fear. As we have observed, her transfiguration has not come about smoothly; she faced torture, humiliation, paralyzing fear and isolation before she was able to reach her ideal character. This is the crux of what Evey’s character has taught us: when we overcome our fears, we will find strength and confidence.
For the role, Natalie shaved her head totally bald and speaks with a British accent: “I worked with the dialogue coach Barbara Berkery for a month and a half before we started shooting, and she was with me the whole time. We’d do exercises for an hour every morning before we started. The first time I auditioned for them they asked if I would shave, and I said yeah! Everyone laughed and made a bigger deal out of it than I did.”
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