OJ Simpson might have thought he was making history with his televised flight-from-justice....but scifi fans know he was only acting out yet another part, this one written back in 1959...and done rather better in a superb film of the book, in 1965!
The Brave New World of the novel has perfected fireproofing...and damped down pretty much everything else as well! Citizens are encouraged to consume. and to conform, with their `needs' being dictated by the authorities via the mass-media. Noone is permitted to be different. Boredom and mood swings are treated with self-administration of freely issued tranquillizers and mood-elevators, and a special `flying squad' matter-of-factly attends the numerous reported overdoses.But another `Flying Squad' exists. Highly trained firemen attend and investigate each reported book sighting, and , literally, burn the books!
For books are absolutely, no exceptions, totally BANNED! And Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature to which books must be brought for combustion to proceed to destruction.
Montag, our hero, is an ordinary fireman with an ordinary, giant-TV- and- tranq obsessed wife. Then, one day, on the commuter transport, he sees a girl, (and what a girl...the film introduced Julie Christie!). He sees her again and again, and she is different, somehow. Montag begins to realise that perhaps life could be some other way.He begins to wonder why so many citizens insist on retaining their books, even , in some instances, choosing to burn with their library. So it is almost inevitable that one memorable day he secretes and retains one of the books he is supposed to be burning. He reads `David Copperfield' all night, and his bookhunger begins, and must be fed, continually fed, until his strange behaviour, (and bloodshot eyes) are noticeable even to his tranquillized wife, and she, after a fair degree of agonizing, uses the State equivalent of a combination letter-box/on-line colour scanner to dob him in. Which leads to the televised chase I mentioned before.....and to an ending so incredibly marvellous I'm not going to spoil it by telling you here! You MUST read the book!
And, for once, and it doesn't happen often, I can also say, "If you can't get hold of the book, see the film! In fact, see it anyway! It is word-perfect to the book, complementing and supplementing its message with superb, understated British filmmaking at its best. Ten out of ten for this one!
PS..and one wonders what kind of Montag Mel Gibson will make in the remake....
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