In Order To Find, You Must First Learn To Hide: Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

There are two things I can say right off the bat when talking about this film.  Firstly, it is perhaps one of the best literary adaptations I have witnessed to date, although that should be no surprise considering it was in the ever caring hands of Francois Truffaut.  Secondly, I am pretty sure that Tommy Wiseau of The Room infamy took all his acting cues from Oskar Werner, particularly in the manner of uttering names.  Although, this adaptation of Ray Bradbury's canonical novel is sadly one of Truffaut's lesser works, it manages to exude so much of the style and substance we have come to know and love about the director, managing to make it one of my favorite of the director, second only to Shoot The Piano Player.  It captures all the greatness of a dystopian nightmare while still managing to be cinematic, understated and surprisingly fresh.  It is no small matter to make a film about a person who burns books and exists in a society that has, essentially, become inundated with mind-numbing television programs whose vague dialogue and open-endedness manage to blindly lead the "cousins" of some unnamed future city into believing that they are happy with meaningless dribble on a flat screen television, one of Bradbury's more eerie visions to prove true and other consumerist oriented items.  Friendship is a vague thing in this film and deservedly so, because Truffaut's reimagining of the work, emphasizes the separated nature of this paranoid world in which reading a book is a crime, on the grounds that to engage with written work is to invariably cause one to be sad.  Firefighters now cause fires as opposed to putting them out, although an argument could be made as to them putting out the fires of revolution through censorship.  This film somewhat serves as a counter to Godard's vision of what television would do to society, and as I have mentioned far earlier in this blog, Godard and Truffaut had a rather unfortunate falling out only years prior to this films release.  Truffaut sees a world where we can still escape conformity through the memories of wonderment, while Godard manages to see all going to hell via mass technologies, something he makes contentiously clear in Film Socialisme.  I am always in the favor of Truffaut's vision because it has a care and earnestness for human success and, honestly, who can stand to be as virulently depressed as Godard all the time.

For those of you not terribly familiar with the novel, let me first suggest reading the book before even continuing on with this description and if you have already had the pleasure of engaging with Bradbury's work the plot should be a nice refresher.  We are shown a firefighter named Montag (Oskar Werner) whose job as stated earlier is not to put out fires, but to burn books, donning a badge that reads 451, the temperature at which paper ignites.  He is, as the story begins, the ideal employee and up for promotion, something that makes his wife Linda (Julie Christie) quite happy, because it means that they will, amongst other things, be able to finally get another wall unit with which to watch more television shows.  Things seem aligned to work perfectly until Montag is approached by a woman named Clarisse  (Julie Christie) who confronts him about the reasons behind burning books and asks him if he had ever actually read one of the books he is so quick to destroy.  While Montag is initially quite dismissive of this suggestion, a growing concern for what makes these books so cherished causes him to crack into a copy of David Copperfield, an act that changes him forever, causing him to become filled with an insatiable desire to read, an act that leads to a distancing from Linda.  Montag, nonetheless, continues his job all the while secretly reading, until he witnesses a woman choose to die engulfed with her books rather instead of living in a world without them.  This realization that books do reflect something much larger than words on a page, Montag can no longer contain his desires and even while he is forced to watch his house burn down, he steals a book and flees to the outskirts of the city.  There he finds a commune of people who have dedicated their lives to memorizing a book, thus the words on the page possess a living identity, he reencounters Clarisse while memorizing The Collected Short Stories of Edgar Allen Poe.  The film closes with the members of the group walking back and forth reciting the books they have committed to memory.

I mentioned that it was a rather bold act to make a film version of a book that is essentially about a society becoming disconnected from the written word.  Of course, Bradbury's concern was more with television and even more so a society that censors all things that could make them reconsider their social place.  Yet, Truffaut manages to use the film as a provocation of what the novel already was and creates it is in such a jarring and intense manner that it does exactly what good literature should and what bad television fails to do, it incorporates thought provoking moments throughout and Truffaut a film scholar at heart uses his medium as much as a form of literature as any great author.  Furthermore, there are momentary tricks and brilliant cinematic doublings simply not possible in the book  The obvious one being the playing of both Linda and Clarisse by Julie Christie, which suggests that it is not infidelity that drives Montag away from Linda, but a desire to escape monotony and a fascist oppression.  Similarly, we are able to witness the actual act of book burning, which while describe quite magnificently by Bradbury in the text, helps with its literal incandescence on a screen.  Various other tricks throughout the film, whether they be edited zoom-in shots or the reversal shots allowing for Montag and other to slide up a fire pole ad layers of filmic metaphor and emphasis on the absurd world in which this dystopic state exists.  I would argue that this is not necessarily an alternative work to Bradbury's original, but almost a add-on to the ideas professed in the novel.  Truffaut clearly has a close attachment to this fascist idea of censorship and wants to attack it in his own artistic medium.

Key Scene:  While the book burning moments are intense, nothing is quite as well executed as Montag's first moments of reading David Copperfield.

This is how a literary adaptation should be made and it is now one of my favorite Truffaut works, perhaps in need of a push out of obscurity.  Cinematically and metaphorically it serves as everything one should desire from film.  Getting a copy, all be it a bit pricey, is a must.

I Never Broke The Law, I Am The Law!: Judge Dredd (1995)

In the wake of what appears to be an endless amount of remakes, or what may be called rehashings, I have come to realize their is a considerable list of sci-fi classics, or at the very least well-regarded films for their time, that I have failed to see, one such being Judge Dredd, which has recently found a new version in the midst of the current 3D craze, while I am told that it is not necessarily a remake, the name Dredd made me realize that while I have no desire to see this new version, what memories I do have of the original are very vague and relate more to the video game I played inspired by the film and comic, as opposed to the movie.  As such, I felt it necessary to revisit this work, not expecting to enjoy it per se, but to reconsider a relationship to what I found cool at hip as somebody of seven years age, as opposed to now being twenty four.  Popping in Judge Dredd did begin with an initial degree of excitement because thematically it falls into the distopian film genre, a personal favorite of mine and manages to adhere to this context quite brilliantly.  Furthermore, for about the first forty five minutes to an hour I was blown away by how well executed and realized the film was and found myself contemplating why it had not been more well regarded as years had passed, however, as the movie wrapped up it dove into a world of grandioseness and absurdism that completely ruined its great philosophical underpinnings in the name of terrible counter one-liners and explosions.  Of course, these factors were not off putting, as they might have been in something like a Michael Bay movie and would not have seemed obnoxious were they incorporated evenly throughout the film, tragically, it goes from a great pace to frantic by the films close causing viewers to be rather disconnected as the climax builds to early and points of resolve seem secondary.  Suffice to say, Judge Dredd gets close to being a damn good movie only to throw caution to the wind without realizing that it cannot afford such frivolous actions.  All criticism aside the film deserves a fair amount of credit for some cool special effects and some great cinematic references and I am glad to see that Danny Cannon has gone on to have heavy control in the CSI franchise.  Judge Dredd is very much a product of the 90's and like so many things from the era, excluding the music, revisiting the piece rarely proves to aid in the nostalgia.

It is the future, everything really sucks and the earth is a desolate and inhabitable wasteland, an occurrence we can only assume is directly tied to nuclear warfare.  While most of the world is occupied by pirate like bands of deformed humans, a few cities have popped up, mostly existing within the former United States, one such city is Mega City 1, which is presided over by a set of persons known as Judges, persons whose sole purpose is to dispense justice to an unruly people, often doing so in very forceful and violent manners.  We are shown one such Judge, Judge Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) using his heavy hand to arrest a recently released criminal named Herman Ferguson (Rob Schneider) for computer hacking.  Along with the help of Judge Hershey (Diane Lane) Dredd incarcerates Ferguson and returns to work, only to be told that he needs to take a break from working the streets to reflect on teaching ethics, as many in the academy find Dredd's swift hand of justice a bit to eager.  Meanwhile it is revealed that an ex-Judge named Rico (Armand Assante) has broken free from a maximum security penal colony and is out and about on killing sprees in Mega City 1, much to everyone's concern.  Dredd is then implicated in the murder of an activist oriented reporter, despite having no recollection of the events, leading to his being sent to the prison, despite various pleas of innocence.  While on his way to the prison, Dredd encounter Ferguson once again, who cannot help but note the irony in the situation.  Meanwhile it is revealed that Dredd, as well as Rico were part of a government project to create a genetically perfect police force, Dredd being a positive result and Rico being prove of its negative implications.  Recruiting the aid of Ferguson, Dredd manages to escape the prison and return to Mega City to face Rico in an attempt to save Mega City 1.  After a successful destruction of Rico and his evolving clones, Dredd is able to once again take up his role as a procurer of justice, although we are led to believe that he does so with a slightly different frame of reference, one that now considers the possibilities of innocence.

The concepts of law and ethics and who has the right to dispense justice are more than apparently the concept of Judge Dredd, as if the title of the film alone were not enough of a clue.  However, while some of the film certainly exist to reflect on how the individual code of ethics is contested and accommodated by a larger set of guidelines, I would argue that Judge Dredd is far more concerned with considering what role symbols of power play into dispensing authority and a vague notion of justice.  It is no coincidence that the uniforms donned by the various judges cause them to be somewhat hard to identify beyond clear gender and racial signifiers, giving a certain faceless nature to police power, suggesting it larger or more abstract that human nature.  It is also no coincidence that the uniforms reflect a very totalitarian imagery, almost reminiscent of Fascist era Europe, also suggesting that justice as a means of symbolic power is tied to a state force, something that is further heightened by the large robed figure that is created when shown the architectural nature of the Judge's Academy in Mega City 1.  The film does go on to consider what problems arise when one creates a replica of the symbols of justice, as occurs when Rico passes as Dredd.  Does one then completely dismiss these power images altogether, or does it require a reconsideration and reconstruction of the images from the ground up.  In one of the films better scenes, Dredd comments on the presence of the female depiction of justice as "the blind lady," yet this film suggest that justice is anything but blind and, in fact, depends quite heavily on images and symbols as a means of visual enforcement.

Key Scene:  The hovercraft chase scene, while a bit dated still has a great degree of suspense and enjoyability.

This is a solid rental movie through and through and only if you truly love Sylvester Stallone should you buy this film.

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor: The Hunger Games (2012)

I have been quite adamant in my loathing of The Hunger Games as a rip-off of Battle Royale, which in its own right borrowed quite heavily from Lord of the Flies, and while I was not upset that the film and book got hype, I was dismissive of how many people praised it for its originality, something, narratively speaking, it did not possess.  As such I avoided viewing this film for quite some time because I felt as though I would be selling out to one of my favorite novels and films in Battle Royale, as well as feeding into media hype about a film that I would more than likely hate.  However, I by some accident saw the trailer on television and was instantly drawn into the cinescape created by Gary Ross and knew that it would linger in my mind until viewing the film.  Unable to convince my friends to join in the viewing of a film that they too had dismissed, I grabbed a bluray copy from a drugstore nearby and popped the popular movie in for viewing.  I enjoyed The Hunger Games very much, it is certainly a rip-off thematically of works like Battle Royale and Lord of the Flies, but not it is clearly not with the means to exploit it for profits, and while I can only speak for the film, I felt as thought it was a realized distopian film with excellent cinematography, decent enough acting and enough fresh approaches to the  kill-or-be-killed narrative to make the two plus hour film worth my time and, more importantly, worth convincing others to watch.  The Hunger Games will likely be forgotten in the throes of big budget Hollywood in the next five or so years, but that does not mean we should ignore its current successes, as it stands right now, The Hunger Games is a great offering from the blockbuster system and as far as those are concerned it is one of the better films of the year.

The Hunger Games, for the two and a half people who do not know, follows a society in the grips of poverty and famine that choose to sacrifice two youth from each of their districts to fight to the death, the last one standing is promised wealth beyond comprehension.  Of course, the districts with larger populations and a decent means can train their youth to compete, while others are chosen by random drawing, often to their dismay.  In the case of the specific Hunger Games shown in the film one Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers as tribute for the Hunger Games in order to assure that her younger sister will not be subject to the cruel engagement.  Along with another village boy Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) they represent their district in the games.  The two are whisked off to training at the Capital, which is grueling and affords them an opportunity to see how truly corrupt the society they live within has become, particularly in the disparity between people of various districts and their wealth.  Realizing this rather quickly, Katniss makes it a point to contradict the influence of wealth and stick to her own ways, making the initial hours of the actual games incredibly grueling.  As Katniss competes against others trying to kill her and various natural obstacles, she learns self-reliance and to trust people who do right by her, ultimately surviving the bout till it is only her and Peeta left.  Agreeing to commit suicide, as opposed to killing one another, a committee declares them joint winners of the games, in order, to not cause more despair amongst those viewing the games.  Katniss and Peeta return as victors, much the the anger of the committee and the film closes with the President of the districts contemplating the situation, after all this is a trilogy.

So I should probably confront the race issue in the film.  Having done a bit of research for this specific blog I have come to realize that in the novel the characters were clearly of darker skin than those in the film, proving problematic when you consider that white characters cover much of the main cast.  It also helps to elucidate the scenes of bonding between Katniss and Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) who claims to have a connection to her, which when we know that Katniss is supposed to be darker, makes much more sense.  This is not my criticism per se, but just something to keep in mind when watching the film.  I myself, am drawn to the ways in which the adaptation completely dismisses the quality of any political structure in this particular distopian vision.  Neither right nor left wing politics have proved useful in this vision of the future, and libertarian notions are shot out the window when we consider that the actual games reaffirm that if humans are left to their devices that they will prove Darwin right every time.  I cannot say for sure what the political rhetoric that emerges would be from such a film, put I know that in its wake gender roles would be subverted, racial tensions would be broken and the idea of self-sacrifice for others would be glorified, at least this appears to be what Katniss' actions suggest and the President's discomfort reflect in the films closing.  The various social commentaries emergent within this film are many and each could be drawn on for hours.  Ideally, this should be a film introduced to burgeoning film studies students, as it offers a wide range of critiques that combine cinematic and theoretical language perfectly.

Key Scene: The poison/drug trip is well...trippy

I know I said that I rented this film, but I plan to get a bluray copy soon, it was much to my surprise quite good and well worth owning.