THE STORY – Explores the life and career of George Orwell, particularly the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
THE CAST – Damian Lewis
THE TEAM – Raoul Peck (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 119 Minutes
Big Brother is everywhere. This is not just the premise of George Orwell’s seminal dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” it’s also a statement of fact. The ideas contained in Orwell’s book have entered the public consciousness with an efficacy and efficiency that the authoritarian leader Big Brother himself would have admired. Ideas of “newspeak,” “thought police,” and “Room 101” spring to mind when thinking of dystopia in popular culture, but they also have a revived currency in our age of increasingly paranoid and militaristic leadership clamping down on civil liberties. With his new documentary “Orwell: 2+2=5”, Raoul Peck intertwines Orwell’s life story with his outspoken anti-authoritarian views, and delivers them in a slick package, one whose showy but uncomplicated presentation makes you realize many audiences are aware of Orwell’s lessons, but need to be entertained to take them on board.
By the time he died in 1950, Orwell’s legacy as a literary titan was already secured. “Animal Farm’s” prescient satire emerged from the ashes of World War II, and the
1948 publication of “Nineteen Eighty-Four’” was a success with an audience still
reeling from the barbarity of Herr Hitler and the ongoing cruelty of Comrade Stalin. Part of the remit of “Orwell: 2+2=5” is to tie the author’s opposition to authoritarianism to the events of today. Anyone who’s stopped watching the news in order not to have to listen to the ramblings of Presidents Trump, Putin, Orban, et al will have to sit through them here, but Orwell was all about engaging in uncomfortable conversations. In “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” The Ministry of Truth proclaimed that “Ignorance is strength,” and Orwell and Peck refute such a dangerous idea. “Orwell: 2+2=5” is structured like an argument, with the first three parts demolishing this and the Ministry’s other nefarious slogans: “War is Peace” and “Freedom is Slavery.”
Over the course of two hours, “Orwell: 2+2=5” systematically deconstructs the falsehoods and repressions of colonial and dictatorial regimes. Starting with Orwell’s time as an imperial police officer in Burma, Peck charts the development of the author’s political views from there. The violence employed and the hostility of the natives gave him pause and thus birthed his fledgling distrust of systems defined by forcing a jackboot on the populace. The film is produced with the cooperation of the Orwell estate, and Peck includes photographs and correspondence from across Orwell’s life to illustrate the development of his views. Peck simply but effectively compares the experiences of the author to the political realities of today. The photos from Orwell’s time in Burma are accompanied by narration of his diaries from the time, lamenting the treatment of the local population, before cutting to news footage of the persecution of modern-day Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya population. It’s a blunt tool, but Peck wields it effectively.
The narration of Orwell’s writings (including excerpts from his essays, plus private diaries and letters) stands out in “Orwell: 2+2=5.” Damian Lewis delivers a terrific voiceover performance as the author, lending his words gravitas, anger, and more than a little sadness. This spectrum of emotions is especially necessary when the film switches from demonstrating the relevance of Orwell’s works to detailing his life story, in particular the process of writing “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Between mid-1946 and mid-1948, Orwell relocated between London, the Scottish island of Jura, and various hospitals as he battled tuberculosis, all the while working on his novel. As the letter readings come thick and fast, and the details of Orwell’s life flash by (His marriage, his wife’s death, their young son, financial woes, etc., etc.), it becomes apparent that there’s enough material here for two films. “Orwell: 2+2=5” tries to balance the biographical elements with the introduction to his political beliefs but the title tells you what gets priority. Orwell’s was a rich life, certainly rich enough that is has been portrayed on the big and small screen on several occasions. A documentary on that topic alone may have allowed the author’s life story to breathe, but it does provide effective context for his political thought here.
The equation in the title refers to Big Brother’s ability to convince the populace of Oceania of untruths. “Orwell: 2+2=5” does a commendable job of tying Orwell’s vision of media manipulation to our current climate, as Peck takes aim at social media and AI technology, as well as income inequality and the cults of personality that put charismatic despots in charge. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Orwell may not be surprised by the conclusions Peck draws in “Orwell: 2+2=5,” but he uses Big Brother’s methods against him, painting his message in big letters for all to see.
