It's easy to see how V, as a letter, as a symbol, can represent and inspire an uprising of citizen revolt. Victory. Vindication. Valour. These are the codes that the depressed people of a future totalitarian society aspire to and they also define the title character who stirs them to action. The graphical quality of the letter itself can resemble two arms, defiantly reaching for the heavens. But a revolution can live or die by the double-edged sword it employs; violence can pollute a cause and ...

On the eve of Valentine's day -- the day traditionally dedicated to pure and innocent love -- a new German film dedicated to the unadulterated portrayal of violent, sadistic, psychotic, serial rape, and to the proposition that such rapists are incurably deranged, sent shock waves through an audience composed of around 1,000 press reps in the grand festival hall, and evoked a bedlam of boos and catcalls. The title of the film (in competition this year) is "Die Freie Wille" (Free Will) and the dir...