MOVIE PREMIERE: Ray Bradbury’s
Fahrenheit 451 has been adapted before, and better, by François Truffaut in 1966. This new version, directed and co-written by Ramin Bahrani, still opts for a futuristic setting, but one that tries to make room for our latest technological advancements, tweaking them just enough to propel them a bit forward. The stars in this version are Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon, and the main story remains the same: a book-burning government fireman who comes to treasure the very things he’s destroying. But this HBO version, by incorporating the Internet and computers, blunts Bradbury’s power, message, and ending. To see and hear my full review on NPR’s
Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website. And for a full review here at TVWW,
see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.