Orwell: 2+2=5
Making use of George Orwell's personal journals, narrated by Damian Lewis, alongside news footage and clips from various films (including those adapted from Orwell's work), director Raoul Peck examines the thoughts and feelings of Orwell on the subject of totalitarianism and authoritarianism during the period on which he wrote his final novel 1984. The documentary takes time to examine the author's life, including his time as a member of the Indian Imperial Police in Burma which helped form his opinions and social criticism in its non-linear structure of examining the author's legacy and his foresight into the modern world.
Taking one further step, the film follows Orwell's thoughts on the subject on modern events applying them to Gaza, January 6th, and the corporate control and newspeak reframing, or even rewriting "facts" of the time. 75 years after the author's death, Peck's documentary makes a pretty strong argument that we are currently living in the very world Orwell warned against where objective truth is hidden, distorted, or banned from citizens increasingly incapable of critical thought to question what they are served. It may have taken longer than he predicted, but the Orwellian times predicted have gained far more than a foothold in our modern world.
- Title: Orwell: 2+2=5
- IMDb: link
