Orwell: 2+2=5 (2025)★ 6.3/10

Oof, it sounds weird when I type it out but this anti-fascist essay (a movement I agree with) was unfortunately a disappointing film.

I really liked some of Raoul Peck's previous, so this was a stunner.

I have no better words than the review written by Christopher Campbell in the "Nonfics" newsletter:

"As for Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5, Raoul Peck’s latest takes the approach of a biography on George Orwell that relates his writings to what’s going on in the world now, 75 years since the author’s death. I think he’s rolling in his grave again (see the 2003 film Orwell Rolls in His Grave, which is heavily sampled in this one). I liken this documentary to a simple school project where Peck has made a collage of cut-outs from all the things he could find to illustrate Orwell’s work, including clips of various adaptations, footage of world events, and excerpts from other, better docs and movies. There isn’t a lot of context for all those bits, and I feel that if you are familiar with any of them, you’re already paying enough attention to get the point of the documentary five seconds in (or before even starting it). I do like Damian Lewis’s voiceover readings of Orwell’s personal writings and other biographical material, but the rest of the film is so obvious that it becomes an overstatement." -By Christopher Campbell

---2025 Vancouver Int'l Film Festival #1--

It's undoubtedly incredibly effective, and the message is important, but that in itself doesn't make a great film. For a documentary, I didn't find that I walked away with any new information, barring the history of Orwell's life. The messages about being wary of misinformation, turning a blind eye to human cruelty and desensitization to violence are pertinent, but it feels like Peck is trying to prove something with this doc. What exactly that is, I'm not sure. That said, I felt utter despair by the end of it, so it can't be said that it fails in its mission

Orwell: 2+2=5 es un documental ambicioso, una hipérbole visual, un collage emocional que mezcla biografía, ensayo político y pesadilla contemporánea. Habla del pasado, del presente y se atreve a pronosticar el futuro. Toca temas como el totalitarismo, los sátrapas que nos gobiernan y las crisis que estamos creando. Pretende hablar de todo, y termina perdiéndose en el caos que propone. Todo lo que inicia sorprendiendo e indignando, termina aburriendo debido a su desorden y amalgama de ideas y mensajes que promulga. Habla de la propaganda y termina siendo un panfleto.

Me recuerda mucho a los documentales de Adam Curtis pero sin la destreza, el orden, la síntesis y la amplitud de reflexión que suele usar el documentalista británico.