V for Vendetta arrived in Spanish cinemas in April 2006. Directed by James McTeigue and starring Natalie Portman, the film adapted Alan Moore’s comic, published in 1988. Its story follows the mysterious V as he seeks to restore freedom in a totalitarian Britain, where November 5 is a pivotal date.
The line “Remember, remember the fifth of November” refers to a real event in 1605, known today as Guy Fawkes Night. A group of Catholics planned to blow up the Palace of Westminster, the seat of Parliament, and kill King James I amid religious tensions. Their aim was to replace him with a Catholic monarch.
Guy Fawkes became the name most closely associated with the plot, but he was not its leader: that was Robert Catesby. Fawkes was tasked with entering the cellar beneath the House of Lords and setting off the explosives. Authorities found him with 36 barrels of gunpowder after an anonymous letter warning of danger reached a Catholic nobleman, who alerted them. Fawkes was captured and later tortured.
The failed plot is commemorated with fireworks on November 5. The observance also takes place in several other countries and regions, where it is sometimes known as Bonfire Night. V’s distinctive mask, meanwhile, later became associated with Anonymous, a decentralized international collective of cyberactivists and hackers.
Sources: elDiario.es.