Fahrenheit 451 is a film adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic 1951 novel. It’s set in a future America which had undergone a second Civil War in its past. Diversity
of ideas is faulted as what caused the war; thus, in this new dystopian society,
books are banned, the pursuit of knowledge is discouraged, and history is
rewritten to affirm the status quo. Meanwhile, the work of firemen is no longer to put out fires, but to burn books and round up the people who read
them. Those who are caught are sentenced
to have their identities erased, which basically exile them from this
digitalized society. All of these – the
book burning and the sentencing – are live-streamed to an adoring public, as
the state has been able to use media as, not only an efficient propaganda tool,
but an opiate for its citizens as well.
The focus of the story is on Guy
Montag (Michael B. Jordan), a zealous fireman who is being groomed by his
superior, Captain Beatty (Michael Shannon), to be his successor. However, an interaction with an outcast named
Clarisse (Sofia Boutella) starts him on a path of challenging his way of
thinking, which ultimately leads him to
want reading a book, become disillusioned of his job, and ally with the book-reading resistance.
I haven’t read the original book,
so I don’t know how much of this movie is based on it and how much of it
is new for the movie, since it has to update the story for a 21st
century audience. However, I have a gist
of what happened in the book, for I’ve encountered articles and other
properties that referenced it, and I’ve seen the sci-fi action movie Equilibrium, which is loosely based on
it. It’s an incomplete understanding,
yes, but based on that, I don’t feel this movie really captured the depth of
its source material.
First of all, the novel features
Christian themes, which the movie avoids.
In it, the Bible has a prominent presence in the story. It’s one of the books that Montag saves. He’s so fervent of reading it that, at one
point, his wife asks him if the Bible is more important than her. He even memorizes the book of Ecclesiastes. Apart from that, a few other Bible-centric insights are presented, like
how the Devil twists Scripture to serve his purpose. On the other hand, the Bible is only
mentioned once in the movie; it’s shown, along with To the Lighthouse and Moby
Dick, to have a diluted, state-sponsored, emoji-riddled digital version.
Moreover, I had to groan at its
attempt to sneak in some not-so-subtle subtle Trump-bashing. It’s so forced and stupid. In the first place, to equate Trump to censorship,
weaponizing media to control the narrative, and political correctness doesn’t
work when these are practices often conducted by the Left.
I was also weirded out by this
once scene (SPOILERS) where Montag finally meets the resistance whose way of
preserving important books is by memorizing them. As the members are introduced, the contribution
of the Asian woman among them is revealed to be Mao Tse-tung ’s Little Red Book. Oh,
really? I don’t mind stereotyping the
Asian woman with an Asian book. But of
all of the known Chinese books, why does it have to be something from a
mass-murdering, perverted tyrant? It
could have easily been Sun Tzu’s The Art
of War or Confucius’ “Five Classics.”
Why did the movie go that route? Is
it trying to say the Little Red Book is
– gasp – good literature?
Now, the movie isn’t all negatives. It has a couple of good
things going for it as well. I especially
like the incorporation of social media culture to the story. I thought it was brilliant. However, most of its thought-provoking aspects
are not given the exploration that they warrant.
I think the main problem is that the movie doesn’t have enough time to really gel.
It surely has intriguing material, and all throughout the move, it
constantly shows glimpses of something great.
But it’s simply unable to follow up on them. If this was an HBO mini-series instead, there’s
a great chance its world, themes, and characters would have been superbly
fleshed out – making it a profound, worthwhile adaptation.
In the end, Fahrenheit 451 is a decent movie. Though it’s surely not as smart and impactful
as it could have been, there are still some nice takeaways. But if I have to choose between rewatching
this and Equilibrium, I would go with
the latter. That one fell short of
being more intellectually stimulating as well, but it at least has gun-kata.
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