New film brings George Orwell's warnings into Trump era
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A new documentary uses author George Orwell's diaries and archival footage to cast him as a modern-day prophet amid Trump-era free speech and authoritarianism claims.
Why it matters: "ORWELL: 2+2=5," opening in select theaters Friday, transforms Orwell's words from historical warning to urgent commentary, revealing how the struggles over truth and control that defined the 20th century still shape the world today.
The big picture: Orwell's works, highlighting concerns of central surveillance and control, are seeing a renaissance as some states push book bans and big tech companies are accused of allowing unchecked disinformation.
- The Trump administration has also dispatched masked ICE agents to detain immigrants, and allegedly U.S. citizens, and ordered the National Guard to fight crime in cities where crime is dropping.
- Meanwhile, tech companies are quickly gathering more personal data (that users are freely giving away), and public surveillance with facial recognition software is growing.
In an interview with Axios, director Raoul Peck said these modern and disturbing events make Orwell even more relevant today.
- "We are in a time of distress. We are in a time of total degradation of democracy. Orwell wrote that the degradation of language is the condition for the degradation."
- Peck said that language involves leaders telling lies, misleading nations in violent conflicts and convincing citizens to turn on each other in exchange for a mythical past that may not have even existed.
Zoom in: "ORWELL: 2+2=5" is told through the reading of Orwell's own words from essays and novels, while images of the U.S., China, the Middle East and Ukraine are shown on screen.
- Only previous interviews of scholars and journalists speaking on old news shows and in lectures are shared to provide context.
Case in point: In his 2016 documentary, "I Am Not Your Negro," on writer James Baldwin, the Oscar-nominated and Haitian-born Peck lets the late writer do most of the talking and doesn't shoot any new footage of expert interviews.
- The result is a film in which Orwell seems to be narrating the world's demise as modern images of war and political lies flash before you.
The intrigue: Peck told Axios he wasn't attacking President Trump, Russian leader Vladimir Putin or any world leader specifically, but wanted Orwell to do the talking and let the images speak for themselves.
- "I'm not going after anybody. I'm just explaining that two plus two equals four," Peck said, referring to a famous line in Orwell's "1984," where a totalitarian regime tells citizens 2+2=5.
- "If anybody feels that I'm talking about themselves, yeah, fine," he said. "If the king is naked, I'm sorry, I will say that the king is naked."
- Peck said he wanted to introduce a new generation to Orwell and show how important he is, even in the present day.
Flashback: The British-born Orwell, who died in 1950, was known for "Animal Farm" and "1984," both of which tackled totalitarianism.
- Orwell's "1984" became a best-seller in the U.S. during the first Trump administration and has reappeared during the second.
- Orwell's concepts of doublespeak (deliberately euphemistic, ambiguous, or obscure language), newspeak (doublespeak for political propaganda) and thoughtcrimes (thoughts deemed illegal by a mob or a government) continued to be cited in response to current events.
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