Fahrenheit 451
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Movie Reviews of Fahrenheit 451
Movie Review: Flash Point
Summary: 5 Stars
Of course, 451 degrees is the flash point of paper.
The story - and this film version, were made in an era of great paranoia - there is the obvious post fascist fear and hatred of bookburners (of any kind) and the very real fears of nuclear war and oppression in the name of freedom.
The opening 'credits' are spoken, taking us directly into this dystopian society of shallow, meaningless lives, controlled by the state at all levels. There is a warning about passive leisure - television taking over - although that seems almost quaint in the Internet age.
The film looks great - with some bizarre settings and the wonderful fire engine - as well as the fabulous Julie Christie in both of the leading female roles.
Truffaut's film couldn't have been made in Hollywood - one feels that no U.S director would have dared in the post McCarthy era - it is too challenging to federal iron fist government.
Should we conform, fit into society - at whatever cost to the individual? of course not.
The issues are still with us - and this film looks surprisingly 'new' despite the obvious lack of personal tech for the people who inhabit it. Spend some time with Montag - and be glad that you don't live there...yet.
Movie Review: A Ray of Hope for tomorrow
Summary: 5 Stars
As a child of 9, who had recently lost her 30 year old father to cancer, I viewed this movie (about 6 times) in the theatre, when it first came out (circa 1966, San Jose, CA). Perhaps it was because I was at an extremely sad and impressionable period in my life, but the movie had a lifelong impact on my political views and values.
Upon finding the DVD on Amazon, I purchased it, and after viewing it now, as a woman in my late 40's, I feel the same way as I did when I was a child. Very wary of a Government so afraid of their constituency, that they would reduce them to mindless robots, placated by substance abuse, religion, and willing to turn in everyone who didn't fit in or comply. We are heading there, America. I was heartened yesterday, when after viewing this DVD with me, my teenaged granddaughter told me she had discussed the movie with her literature teacher. In turn, her teacher asked if she could borrow the movie, to share with the entire class. I am donating my original copy to her teacher and class, and ordering another for myself. Perhaps our youth will once again bring change, peace, freedom, honesty, and caring back into America. I hope to live long enough to see that day.
Movie Review: A Chilling Look at Where We're Headed
Summary: 5 Stars
Last week I watched Farenheit 451 for the first time on TV, and the film seemed remarkably prophetic. It's hard to believe this movie about a society that forbids all reading and burns all books was made 40 years ago.
We live in a frightening time, and although our firefighters don't set fire to books, we're already beginning to lose our sense of freedom and rationality. A few weeks ago, millions of Muslims took to the streets, burning books and everything in sight to protest against freedom of speech. And here in the U.S., the magazines that reproduced the cartoons have been removed from the shelves of many bookstores.
Visually, the film's modern living room with its huge flat-screen TV seems right on target. The mindless audience participation show that Linda watches each night could easily be a current reality program. And the picture-filled but wordless newspaper Montag "reads" looks like a new product for our post-literate age. Just last night, I heard the 911 Commission Report will soon be released in comic book format "for people who don't read books." Of course, chills went down my spine.
Movie Review: One of my favourite films
Summary: 5 Stars
François Truffaut's first film in the English language still stands up well, in my opinion. It is a very fine adaptation of Ray Bradbury's book.
I wonder what it says to us today? Possibly quite a lot. The world in which the story takes place does look, superficially, inviting. Maybe this is what it means to be living in a police state? Guy Montag, played with great style by Oskar Werner, is a cool character (and forget the moronic American meaning of the word "cool" here), in that he isn't passionate and lives a rather passionless life. Millie Montag, his wife, is played by Julie Christie, who also plays the role of Clarice.
The film is powerful because it rarely overstates its case and keeps the violence to a minimum.
The film was "futuristic" in the mid-sixties, when it was made, and it does have a decidedly '60s look about it now. However, it does present us with a people who have forgotten books and get their kicks from very large -interactive TV screens - not that that would ever happen, would it!?
Movie Review: Only an atheistic society...
Summary: 5 Stars
Only an atheistic society would ever think of banning all books and reading. While this is probably not what Bradbury or Truffaut intended to communicate, it is nevertheless telling that there is no Bible to be seen among all of the titles specifically shown or mentioned in the movie. Since English-speaking households at present are more likely to own a Bible than any single other title, and since the Bible has historically/globally been the most banned book ever written, it seems reasonable to infer that the society depicted in Farenheight 451 must have had already eliminated the Bible long before it began its ambitious attempt to ban all books in general.
Those who are not readers will likely find the movie boring, but anyone who loves books cannot fail to appreciate this movie.