Try this example code under 4.0.3 swf8 and you'll see that the views are visible even though we make every effort to make them not visible. Furthermore, using the debugger calling inner.setVisible(false); has no effect whereas calling outer.setVisible(false); does.
 
<canvas proxied="false">
    <class name="Foo" extends="drawview" visible="false"
        bgcolor="red"
    >
        <method name="_redraw">
            Debug.write("VISIBLE: " + this.visible);
            this.clear();
           
            this.beginPath();
            this.moveTo(0, 0);
            this.lineTo(this.width, 0);
            this.lineTo(this.width, this.height);
            this.lineTo(0, this.height);
            this.closePath();
           
            this.fillStyle = 0x00ff00;
            this.fill();
        </method>
    </class>
   
    <Foo x="100" y="100" width="100" height="100" visible="false">
        <method event="oninit">
            _redraw();
            setVisible(false);
        </method>
    </Foo>
   
    <Foo x="200" y="100" width="100" height="100" visible="false">
        <!-- No drawing means we don't see the view. -->
    </Foo>
   
    <view id="outer">
        <Foo id="inner" x="100" y="200" width="100" height="100" visible="false">
            <method event="oninit">
                _redraw();
                setVisible(false);
            </method>
        </Foo>
    </view>
</canvas>