Fahrenheit 451

6. Fahrenheit 451 (1966). It's based on the Ray Bradbury book about how freedom lovers learn books by heart to subvert a futuristic totalitarian government that attempts to control people's thoughts by banning and burning books. Best libertarian moment: At the end, people are walking around in the rebel encampment in the woods, defying the book burners by each memorizing a book.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966). Adapted from Ray Bradbury's novel and directed by Francois Truffaut, this film depicts a futuristic society in which books are banned, and firemen ironically are called on to burn contraband books—451 Fahrenheit being the temperature at which books burn. Montag is a fireman who develops a conscience and begins to question his book burning. This film is an adept metaphor for our obsessively politically correct society where virtually everyone now pre-censors speech. Here, a brainwashed people addicted to television and drugs do little to resist governmental oppressors.

In a future time when books are banned, a secret underground preserves the world’s literature. ... '"We've all got to be alike. The only way to be happy is for everyone to be made equal. So, we must burn the books." Thus is explained the government's antibook rationale. That is: exposure to the ideas found in books makes people different; differences create social friction; therefore books must be destroyed ... In the end, one is left with the disturbing impression that such a society could actually be brought about.' –MissLiberty.com

This is a wonderful Ray Bradbury story, and its antiauthoritarian content will make it of very strong interest to libertarians. Truffaut's telling of this story is Hitchcockian at times, and seems all the more supported, as it is, by an excellent Bernard Hermann musical score.