Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

Directed by: Ramin Bahrani | 96 minutes | drama, science fiction | Actors: Michael B. Jordan, Aaron Davis, Cindy Katz, Michael Shannon, Mayko Nguyen, Dylan Taylor, Saad Siddiqui, Katherine Cullen, Edsson Morales, Lilly Singh, Warren Belle, Sofia Boutella, Raoul Bhaneja, Keir Dullea

‘Fahrenheit 451’ is based on the world famous book Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury. The dystopian story is set in the future, where literature has been completely banned. Firefighters are no longer there to put out fires, but to burn things. And especially books, because everything that can be found in books is bad for society.

Just like in the book, Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan) is a high-ranking firefighter in this film adaptation. He is proud of what he does and enjoys the fame he has gained from burning books, as well as hard drives and all other forms of prohibited media and art. His boss, Commander Beatty (Michael Shannon), prepares him to succeed him as chief of the fire service. But when Montag meets the mysterious Clarisse (Sofia Boutella), something inside him changes. She asks him questions that he has never been asked before, forcing him to think about his life and his work. Why has the government banned books anyway? Is his work really as noble as he always thought? In the end, Guy defects to the rebels and tries to save the survival of literature.

The current, often excessive, use of social media and concepts such as ‘fake news’ lend themselves perfectly to the dystopia of the story. Bahrani has limited all communication in his outlined world to emojis. All information is obtained through the “nine”. A digital platform much like the internet and social media as we know them today, but completely censored and controlled by the government. A reality that is not inconceivable far away from us.

Unfortunately, Bahrani is unable to translate this frightening recognizability into the rest of the script. The opening of the film is messy, so the viewer is not immediately grabbed and the storylines of the various characters are also very thin, so that the otherwise excellent actors don’t have much to do to put down a convincing role. In addition, the speed at which Guy changes from chief firefighter to savior of everything-that-forbidden is very unbelievable. Visually, Bahrani did unpack for ‘Fahrenheit 451’, with the conflagration scenes being quite impressive. There are more than enough burn parties to fill the movie experience, but unfortunately the movie remains a disappointing film adaptation.