HBO's 'Fahrenheit 451' Is Halting, Never Catches Fire
Director/co-writer Ramin Bahrani makes changes big and small to Ray Bradbury's dystopian tale. They help it resonate with our current moment — but make it even more bluntly polemical.
Science fiction often offers us cautionary tales about the role technology may play in humanity's future, but Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 isn't content to merely caution. It shrieks. It wails. It pulls out its hair, gnashes its teeth and rends its garments. It grabs us by the lapels and shakes us, screaming dire threats. It's ... unsubtle.
Which is part of its curmudgeonly charm, of course. There's more than a little grumpy satire to
