Orwell: 2+2=5

The documentary focuses on the last years of George Orwell's life, the period when he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four, and looks from there to the present. The book's concepts are set beside footage of events from recent history and now. Raoul Peck wrote, directed and produced. Damian Lewis narrates, reading the text in Orwell's own voice. Peck's method is the one he used in the James Baldwin film I Am Not Your Negro: a narration assembled from the writer's own texts, archive footage and open intervention in the present. The film does not avoid current examples; it uses material from many countries, and the Gaza section is the part the director particularly insisted on. It premiered at Cannes on 17 May 2025 and was nominated for the festival's documentary prize, the Golden Eye. It opened in American cinemas in October. The telling is dense and the information moves fast; the film asks for attention. Who it is for: readers of Orwell and viewers who like political documentary. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a neutral biography; the film speaks openly to the present.