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Democracy 'n' Action: 25 Powerful Political Thrillers

V FOR VENDETTA (2005)
In this stirring adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel, it just takes one man to start a revolution against a fascist British government (depicted here as a religious-corporate state that enforces order via militarism and entertainment). The porcelain-masked rebel named V (Hugo Weaving) and his protégé Evey (Natalie Portman) pose the thorny question of whether terrorism is ever justified in response to tyranny and totalitarianism. Bonus points for casting as the Big Brother figure John Hurt, who played the doomed nonconformist hero Winston Smith in the 1984 film version of 1984.