Subject: Retrospective: Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

From: "Dragan Antulov" <[email-masked]>
Date: 13 May 2000 00:19:16 GMT

FAHRENHEIT 451
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2000

There are many people who buy tons of books and never bother
to actually read them. Sometimes it is done on purpose -
volumes of Dostoyevsky, Sartre or Proust on your bookshelves
can give you the image of an intellectual and thus enable
you to impress your houseguests. But, sometimes books get
bought and never read simply because you never get enough
time to read them. In the case of this author, the sadly and
unjustifiably neglected book was FAHRENHEIT 451, classic
science fiction novel by Ray Bradbury. I bought it almost a
decade ago but I never caught enough neither time nor
inspiration to read it. The 1966 movie, based on the novel
and directed by famous French director Fran‡ois Truffaut,
was another matter - I watched it few times, mostly on
television. However, when I decided to review the film, I
felt that it just wouldn't be right without reading the
novel first. Since the novel was some 160 pages long, I
spared few hours and finally relieved myself from this
situation, quite ironic in the context of the book. So, now
I have enough reason to claim that FAHRENHEIT 451 happens to
be one of those occasions when the films turned out to be
better than the original novel.

The plot of the film is set in future, in a society that
banned all the books as the source of disharmony. Instead of
putting down fires, firemen are entrusted with tracking,
confiscating and burning books. One of those firemen is
Montag (played by Oskar Werner), who is about to get
promoted after many years of excellent service. His
professional success, however, can't compensate the deep
feeling of discontent, caused by the widening emotional gap
between him and his dull wife Linda (played by Julie
Christie) who spends all her time watching interactive TV
soaps and swallowing tons of psychoactive pills. Montag
becomes even more aware of this after meeting with Clarisse
(again played by Julie Christie), young, free-spirited woman
who would inspire him to start questioning not only his life
but also well-established norms of society. After a while,
Montag starts doing something inconceivable for fireman -
instead of burning, he would start to read books.

On the surface, the plot of this film is hardly different
from hundreds of similar science fiction dystopias, and it
also follows the cliches of lone hero who rebels against
future totalitarian society. But this very unoriginal and
over-used theme was given to the filmmaker famous for the
originality and very personal touch used in all his work. In
mid 1960s Truffaut was one of the most respectable members
of French New Wave and one of the most vocal proponents of
so-called "auteur theory". Adaptation of Bradbury's novel
was an interesting experiment for Truffaut, being his only
venture into the realm of science fiction (not counting the
role in Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND few
years later). His approach towards the genre was quite
unique. Unlike most of the directors, who like to create
futuristic atmosphere by cool gadgets, costumes or props,
Truffaut decided to make the future world visually identical
to our own. So, people in FAHRENHEIT 451 wear 1960s clothes
and hairstyles, drive 1960s vehicles and live in houses that
look very much like 1960s suburbia. The real difference
between our present and Truffaut's vision of the future lies
in people. They are cold, distant, emotionally cripple and
psychologically impaired.

So, Truffaut relies less on special effects (except in one
fake and totally unnecessary scene near the end that almost
ruins the whole movie) and more on actors and the
atmosphere. He had diverse but very talented crew of actors.
Oskar Werner, Austrian actor who had worked with him in
JULES ET JIM, plays Montag who is very close to character in
the book. Werner's minimalist style of playing was perfect
for gradual transformation of lead character from
cold-blooded government official to rebel. This gradual
transformation is mirrored in two very opposite characters
played by talented British actress Julie Christie in one of
the best dual roles in history of cinema. Another great
talent comes in the form of Cyril Cusack who plays evil,
sadistic but also a very intelligent Captain. He is aided by
Anton Diffring (German character actor almost obliged to
play Nazis in dozens of 1960s and 1970s WW2 movies) in a
small but effective role of Montag's professional rival.

Acting talent is supported by Truffaut's almost flawless
direction that represents the good combination of the old
and new. On one hand, Truffaut uses this film to give
endless homages to his great role model Hitchcock,
especially in the scenes that create suspense. Another
homage to the Master of Suspense is the use of Bernard
Herrman as music composer. His score is perhaps less
powerful than in some of the greatest Hitchcok's films, yet
it is recognisable and quite effective in the context of
FAHRENHEIT 451. In this film, as in many other, Herrman
deserved his reputation of one of the best movie composers
of all times. On the other hand, Truffaut uses this film to
experiment. One of such experiments could be seen in the
beginning, when the movie credits are narrated instead of
being shown on the screen. Unlike most of the 1960s
experiments, this one is successful and adds the futuristic
atmosphere to otherwise contemporary setting. Truffaut also
uses opportunity to mix genres - FAHRENHEIT 451 is made of
scenes that are truly horrifying, some scenes that are
filled with black humour and some scenes that are both.

Futuristic setting doesn't discourages Truffaut to comment
on the 1960s world through small but amusing details. "Law
enforcement as fun" scene looks very much like the clip from
a documentary about generations' conflict of late 1960s,
while TV announcers delivering statistics about burned books
sound very much like Pentagon speakers during Vietnam War.
However, the quality of FAHRENHEIT 451 is not only timeless
but also disturbingly prophetic. Some dark elements of
Bradbury's and Truffaut's visions could be seen in today's
world. Books are disappearing while the masses are
manipulated through dumbed-down popular entertainment,
people spend all their lives in front of TV sets or have
their metabolisms dependable on various drugs. But the most
disturbing trend is globalisation that tends to cover the
entire world in uniformity, leaving no place to all those
who want to remain independent and individual. When the
characters in this film justify burning books they use the
same vocabulary and almost identical arguments like the
militant proponents of "political correctness"; use of
Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in one of those scenes is movie's
finest irony. However, even those who would recognise some
disturbing trends of today would like FAHRENHEIT 451 in the
end. After all the dreariness, melancholy and hopelessness,
Truffaut rewards the audience with optimistic, powerful
finale that reinstates our faith in humanity. Because of all
that, FAHRENHEIT 451 still remains one of the milestones in
the history of science fiction cinema.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

Review written on May 8th 2000

Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
Fido: 2:381/100
E-mail: [email-masked]
E-mail: [email-masked]
E-mail: [email-masked]

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