By Robert Scucci
| Updated
Imagine a world where books are considered compilations of graffiti full of impure thoughts that need to be eliminated for the better good of humanity. Fahrenheit 451, the 2018 movie based on the classic 1953 Ray Bradbury novel of the same name, attempts to unpack the implications of a future in which the proletariat has no reference point in regard to the world’s history before the Second American Civil War marked the beginning of the end of intellectual pursuit.
Painting a bleak picture of a society without knowledge, Fahrenheit 451 is a movie worth watching for its futuristic production values and strong lead acting from Michael B. Jordan, Michael Shannon, and Sofia Boutella, but muddles its own messaging by failing to demonstrate just how harrowing such a future would actually be if citizens let their government have total control over the media they’re allowed to consume.
A Future Without Knowledge
Fahrenheit 451, as the movie and novel titles both suggest, is the temperature in which paper ignites into flames and burns into a smouldering pile of ashes. At the center of the film’s conflict, Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan) works as a fireman, not to extinguish blazes, but to track down and incinerate any and all literature that his precinct tracks down for the sake of censorship. Belonging to the last generation tied to pre-war times, Guy, and anybody else who has a vague recollection of life before the Second American Civil War, are required to take eye drops every day to dull their memories so they can focus on the task at hand.
Working closely with Captain John Beatty (Michael Shannon), who took him under his wing after the death of his father, Guy starts to remember his time as a child when books weren’t forbidden, and becomes disillusioned after a raid in which a treasure trove of art and literature is set ablaze along with the woman who sacrificed her life in a heroic attempt to protect it.
The 9 And The Eels
While most of society in Fahrenheit 451 gets their information from a government-sanctioned form of propaganda-driven internet known as The 9, a group of rebels known as the Eels are another important point of focus in the movie, as their preservation efforts are the key to ending the era of tyranny and censorship they’re subjected to.
Guy, seeking guidance from an Eel informant named Clarisse (Sofia Boutella), begins to see the light, and realizes that he’s on the wrong side of history. Throwing his entire life as he knows it away, Guy puts his livelihood and reputation on the line in his efforts to assist in preserving texts for future generations by making living, breathing backups in the form of implanting any and all sources of enlightenment into animal DNA, which can be extracted and replicated at an undisclosed safe-haven across the Canadian border.
Focuses On Action More Than The Moral Implication
Fahrenheit 451 makes an honest attempt to bring Ray Bradbury’s dystopian sci-fi classic to life as an action thriller movie, but doesn’t quite stick the landing because it spends too much time on destruction rather than preservation. What’s more, Guy’s character in the movie really has nothing to lose, as he has no family to worry about and focuses primarily on his work. In the novel, on the other hand, Guy’s relationship with his wife, Mildred, makes for a story that has more substance because his internal conflict has a direct effect on his family dynamic that’s not ever addressed in the movie.
Despite its shortcomings as a movie adaptation, Fahrenheit 451, viewed in a vacuum without considering its source material, asks a number of thought-provoking questions about government overreach, censorship, and the human spirit’s willingness to persevere in the face of tyranny and oppression that’s worthy of your attention, making it a solid watch. But if you’re the type to always say “the book was better,” you may not appreciate some of the creative liberties that were taken in order to expose a new generation to Bradbury’s work.
As of this writing, you can stream Fahrenheit 451 on Max.
