V for Vendetta gets showing in China

(Cover) - EN Movies - Natalie Portman's 2005 film V for Vendetta has been shown by the state's broadcaster.

The violent film about a masked man named V who takes on the government got past China's notoriously strict censors, according to American trade publication Variety.

The James McTeigue film, written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, stars Natalie as a teenage girl who rescues an anarchist revolutionary from secret police.

Hugo Weaving stars as V, who notoriously wears a Guy Fawkes mask and attempts to convince the people to rule themselves.

The film was screened uncut by the state broadcaster CCTV's film channel on Friday under the administration of the country's General Secretary of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping.

The broadcast included a modernised version of a Thomas Jefferson quote featured in the film, about defiance in the face of oppression.

'People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people,' it proclaims.

Political pundits are speculating if the broadcast was a mistake or if the General Secretary is planning a more liberal approach to censorship in the country, dictated by the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV.

Citizens logged on to Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, to discuss their surprise over the the screening.

According to Variety, the commentary has since been deleted.