Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Brilliant and touching

best movie i've ever seen.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is one of my favorite sci-fi films and my second favorite adaptation from one of my favorite authors for one of my favorite sci-fi books "Fahrenheit 451". Most live action adaptations of Bradberry's works have always been hit or miss, but to me this is one of the hits. Yeah, it's true it's not perfect (though same can be said about a lot of other live action adaptations from famous authors) but for what it was about to accomplish I felt it did well.There is a lot about the film I really like, production value is on par, I even like the music score which is solid though to me the best music was at the end which I thought was beautiful. The suspense in this film is pretty good though like the book this isn't so much a suspense thriller it's more of a drama. Acting was really good from Oskar Werner as Guy Montag I really bought him as a man that has been nothing but a drone for a corrupt power let alone having no real identity hence his name. But then after spending time with Clarise and reading a book or two it awakens things inside him that have been long dormant, we see he is slowly but surely becoming human because he's using his brain and heart. You really find yourself routing for this guy in not so much just to join in the cause to save humanity but to save his own soul.Julie Christie is very good as Clarise and Linda, it's a duel role but I bought into it I actually did believe the actress was two different people. This choice really adds into the film in fact makes it even more interesting which I'll explain latter.The plotline I personally think is terrifyingly plausible it's the kind of place I honestly wouldn't want to live in; when you think about our technological sub culture how rapid it's evolving and how our current reading sub culture is suffering a slight decline. A corrupt government finding the chance to take advantage of the public by outlawing the very thing that gives us knowledge and even joy in life books. That's a really scary thought, one scene that displays this is a harrowing scene, where a woman that has hidden books throughout her own house, sets herself on fire with the books. This didn't just show how there was something sacred about the books that she's die for then live in ignorance, but it was also to show how much of a living hell the society created truly is as it's a world with not just no place for books but intellects as well.It's true the future looks a little more like the 60's and 70's with some futuristic equipment added, this film was made around the 60's after all. But when you think about it more it does make sense, there was some sort of war sometime in the past which means certain resources would be scarce and due to the intellectual bankruptcy, it means very little invention and technological advancement, ok a few but like I said few and most of that tech is under government control.In a way this film along with the book was sort or prolific on Reality TV and podcasting as we see there is this interactive program they have going where people at their own homes they commutate with each other live, with whatever script given to them. Though the difference is at least with reality TV and podcasting, people actually had something to say and they were about something. These programs we see in this society are bloody boring because they're not about anything, no one is really talking about anything or even engaging in real conversation. It makes sense the program would be uninteresting because the people that created it have no imagination, they have no resources of inspiration to fuel its fire.What disturbs me about this society is how intellectually bankrupt and emotionally unbalanced it has become, we don't just see that books have been taken away, but all other resources of intellect as well. Despite all the technology they have we don't see anyone playing any video games or any board/party games of any kind. Or even watch reruns of any old TV shows like "Star Trek" or "Game of Thrones". This just makes the society all the scarier the inability to enjoy those things.The reason for the whole burning is to create peace and equality and based on the old dictum "ignorance is bliss". Now peace and equality are a genuine goal for every society but the problem is their methodology is perverse and corrupt because as it means subtracting basic important human freedoms, which makes the peace and equality achieved false. Also, bliss has a double meaning which is death, which you feel is something that will happen to this society somewhere along the line. We do see that most of the people in this dystopia are happy, but the happiness isn't genuine it's the kind where people are docile and dopped up which we see most are as there are certain drugs available, which in a way is a bit prolific on our own over the counter drug culture. This happiness isn't genuine because there is no love, it sorts of reminds me of what the Seventh Doctor from an episode of "Doctor Who" once said, "Happiness is nothing without sadness, two sides one coin." And that's the main problem with the populace they have no spiritual balance, no yang for their yin which means no harmony.There is a very interesting contrasting dynamic between both Montag's wife and Clarise and Montag in the middle. It's sort of a Cronenberg like dynamic as it's sort of a contrast and clash between two different duel identities. As well as a clash on the positive ideology of what women can be versus certain stereotypical and faulty ideologies about what women should be. Montag's wife Linda is a product of her society and time, she's like a fancy car but with nothing under the hood to really bring it up to speed. One thing about her that is disturbing isn't just that she's a druggie but how forgetful she's became, in a scene she mentioned how she's forgotten how many pills she's taken, which made me worried because at that moment she could've died. This just shows how truly dangerous the society is and justifies the double meaning of bliss, doing nothing to strengthen your mind leads to dire consequences.Clarise is an alternate version of Montag's wife she's obviously what she could have been. As we see her a person with a mind and a heart. One thinks I like about her is that she's curious about a lot of things in life, like what fire man use to do which is something I can emphasize with because even I'm curious about things all the time. In that society they would regard her as an outcast, crazy but she's not she's being human which is part of what humans in fact intellectually do which is to discover and seek truth out.I even like the interaction scenes with both of them, here it's a real health relationship because both are actually interacting, talking about things and sharing them. Unlike with his wife where they talk almost about nothing, in fact Montag can't even remember why they even fell in love and got married which I'll admit is kind of sad because it just shows how absent the concept of love and emotion is. This story is about the importance of literacy, and how important a role books and any other resources of knowledge really are for our lives. But also, the importance of being a person and never settling for less in life. Books may be destroyed but the human spirit never will along with the ideas with it.Rating: 4 stars

This film is a rather paced review of the life and times of "fireman" Guy Montag. A model citizen of his community he is committed to service. He serves the public trust by cleansing society of its deplorable elements. In this case books. Because books are the tools of free thought. Which creates free speech and free expression. Which has proved offensive and has brought a need to bring order. By burning books.Our fireman is good at his work and has come due for promotion. His superiors believe he is their man. At home his obedient , care free wife is thrilled by the promotion as now a second full sized television can be bought to stream the state approved news. Yet in all of this worker's paradise there remains dissent and disharmony. Persons committed to hiding books and who defiantly express a different opinion. Daring to grow long hair , audaciously leaving their collar unbuttoned at work. Suddenly to Montag the dream looks rather like a nightmare.As he grows closer to a recently befriended woman , he discovers she too is a reader of books. His inability to reconcile the cause of equality in the burning of books as pronounced by the select few of the state , and the rights of individuality's that these security measures trample and smash , causes him madness and uproots his life.His wife quietly spies on him during this period he struggles with. As any good member , a patriot , would do she reports him to the state , and leaves him , removing herself from the toxic influence of a being that is both emotional and has developed morality independent of collective populist opinion. After this event Montag's boss , brings Montag to his house to persecute him for being the domestic terrorist he has now become. His boss is proved correct when Montag kills him with a flamethrower in his own home. After which Montag is pursued relentlessly by the state police for this murder.He finds refuge outside of town with a literary group of terrorists , who are so fanatically indoctrinated by their evil , they have gone to the length of memorizing the works of great authors verbatim. A rouge agent of the cell returns to town to commit suicide in order to pass the belief that Montag is dead. So he remains in the isolated camp cut off from civilization and free to explore thought and emotion.A good look at how a society can willfully promote ignorance through misinformation , non disclosure and blind obedience or nationalism.

I'm glad the book was better. In a strange way, if the movie was better than the book, I wouldn't have liked the movie as much as I did. The book (and the film) is about the importance of reading. You should read the book before seeing the movie , because first of all it's better, and second of all it's kind of what the story is about. Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) is a "fireman" in a totalitarian future. His job is to destroy books, which have now been banned because of their contrasting opinions. He lives with his wife Linda Montag (Julie Christie) who spends all her time inside watching TV. All is good and bland, until one day Montag meets a freethinking school teacher Clarisse McClellan (Christie) whose free spirit and individuality causes him to question the book-less society. Soon Montag starts taking books and he eventually becomes devoted to saving them. The movie is good, but it's kind of weird. I didn't really get a very surreal feel from the book but in the movie it works all right. It also takes creative liberties from the book. But overall, it's a pretty good adaptation. If you've read the book, this is worth a watch.

Never read Bradbury's novel & don't intend to do so, so this review is strictly based upon my viewing of the film Fahrenheit 451.This film is SO-O-O-O BAD that I had to stop watching 1/2 way through, so my review is based only on the 1st 1/2 of the film.I only watched this film because I decided to find out what the French "New Wave" cinema was all about & I'm in the process of watching all of Truffaut's directorial efforts starting with his 1st film, 400 Blows. This film is Truffaut's 5th effort as sole director of a feature film & it is such a disappointing departure from his previous films. The "New Wave" was supposed to be a cinematic rebellion against the staged, stiff, & formulaic French films of the 1940's & 1950's. Truffaut did a pretty good job at rebelling in his 1st 4 films but this one is little more than a formulaic canned Hollywood style sci-fi film. None of the creativity & freshness so evident in his previous efforts is evident here. In short, in Fahrenheit 451, Truffaut sells out to the Cinematic Establishment that he railed against as a film critic in the 1950's & that he rebelled against in his 1st 4 productions.The cinematography in this film is just poor compared to Truffaut's earlier films. No long shots. No shots of the mundane, trivial details that were so interesting in earlier films. No extended shots of faces. The shooting of this entire film includes a large, very dark halo around the entire screen with only a small bright opening in the center of the screen. What's That About? This is obviously a very LOW LOW budget film because for a futuristic sci-fi movie the props were VERY VERY low tech. Montag's boss had conventional, made for paper file cabinets in his office. The phones all had rotary dials, even though digital push button phones were available in 1966. The telephone handsets were right out out of the 1920's. The fire trucks were not only low tech, but their construction was just crude & amateurish. The work suits of the firemen were likewise crude & their headgear looked like those worn by WWI fighter pilots. The appliances in Montag's house were all 1960's vintage, except for the large TV screen on the wall. The houses & apartments were not futuristic at all. The monorail was the only prop that was remotely futuristic looking. The hat that Montag wore off duty looked like a German worker's hat from the 1930's. This film did the POOREST job I've ever scene of creating a futuristic world in a film that is supposed to be about a futuristic society.The casting was horrible. Seems like every actor had a different foreign accent. Casting Julie Christie in 2 separate roles in the same film is just a hare brained idea that didn't work. The only other time that I've ever seen the same actor cast in 2 different roles in the same film was an Italian movie where the same actor played both identical twin brothers & that was an appropriate use of an actor in twin roles in the same film. I saw Oskar Werner in Truffaut's Jim And Jules, & he was great in that film because he was cast appropriately. In this film, Werner was just lousy as Montag & gave the character no depth whatsoever.The whole idea of the futuristic society in this film spending so much time & effort at burning books is just STUPID. Montag tells his boss that he's been a fireman (book burner) for 6 years & there is a scene where new recruits are being trained to be firemen & Montag's boss is telling him about expanding operations by hiring even more firemen & there are scenes of firemen looking for books EVERYWHERE (including a baby carriage). My Question Is - Where The Hell Are All These Books Coming From?? With all the man power & technology that has been apparently been put into burning all the books over the number of years envisaged in this film, surely all the books would've been destroyed long before this film even started. Presumably, the printing presses have already all been shut down, so the remaining task would only entail burning all the books that existed before the printing presses stopped producing new books. But the extended, ongoing effort portrayed in this film to destroy books seems to assume that number of already existing books out there is never ending, which is just ridiculous & contrary to common sense. After you stop the printing presses, the destruction of all the remaining books in a society would be a very short term proposition, if done intensively & not entail the never ending effort envisaged in this phony movie. If you really wanted to eradicate all the books in a society, then you'd simply do a door to door search of every house & building & Voila !!, it's just done & over with.I will continue plowing through Truffaut's directorial efforts but after Fahrenheit 451 I'm just not expecting things to get better. Like other directors (such as John Sayles) who started their careers determined to make "different" & "better" films, it looks like Truffaut sold out his artistic & creative values for the Almighty Buck & that's just a shame.