Review of Fahrenheit 451 (1966) by Biagiu R — 13 Jan 2011

"To learn how to find, one must first learn how to hide.".

All printed materials are destroyed and banned, and firemen start fires in this adaptation of author Ray Bradbury's cautionary near-future parable of an oppressive society in which free thought is verboten.

Fahrenheit is at it's best when its being surreal, abstract, or expressionistic. Many scenes are beautifully quirky, particularly the scenes where the firemen in their firetruck are moving from job to job with a bouncily silly yet somewhat dreadful score accompanying the group on-screen. The last 40 minutes or so are simply fantastic.

However, the first 40 are a tad....... unexpected. Though not unentertaining per se, the first half of the film comes off as very homemade and silly, though I feel this is probably my failing and not necessarily the film's. One aspect of Fahrenheit I outright do not like is its downright embarrassingly silly art direction and set decoration. The Firemen's laughable costumes have cosplayer written all over them and the firehouse looks like some european citizen's garage with it's walls painted red. Also, I am not a devoted fan of Oskar Werner's lazy eyed portrayal of Montag.

Though Fahrenheit 451 is at it's worst when trying to bend to the whims of it's genre and be futuristic, it remains a sci-fi film that deserves a second look; as it IS rather well directed.