7.4
Viewer Rating
Combines user and critic ratings from four sources
Orwell: 2+2=5 (2025)
Orwell: 2+2=5 (2025)
Overview
Documentary directed by Raoul Peck that interweaves archival footage, newsreels, and contemporary visuals to explore George Orwell's novel 1984 and its echoes in modern authoritarianism. Damian Lewis voices Orwell, with archival appearances by the author and interviews featuring U Win Khine as a Myanmar immigration officer. Produced in collaboration with the Orwell Estate; world premiered at Cannes 2025.
Starring Cast
Where to watch
Rating & Dimensions
Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Leans Progressive
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: Moderate
Family Values: Mixed
Christianity: Negative
Viewer Rating
7.4
Overview
Documentary directed by Raoul Peck that interweaves archival footage, newsreels, and contemporary visuals to explore George Orwell's novel 1984 and its echoes in modern authoritarianism. Damian Lewis voices Orwell, with archival appearances by the author and interviews featuring U Win Khine as a Myanmar immigration officer. Produced in collaboration with the Orwell Estate; world premiered at Cannes 2025.
Starring Cast
Where to watch
Detailed Bias Analysis
Analyzing...
Leans Progressive
Primary
The documentary applies George Orwell's critiques of totalitarianism to contemporary authoritarian figures and events, particularly those associated with right-wing politics, framing awareness and resistance as essential to preserving democracy. This focus on systemic threats from specific modern regimes determines its alignment with progressive values.
The documentary employs traditional casting without race or gender swaps in its portrayals. Its narrative subtly critiques imperial and colonial power through Orwell's experiences in Burma and links to contemporary global injustices, incorporating the director's post-colonial perspective.
Secondary
The documentary peripherally depicts Orwell's adoptive family through scenes of him teaching his son the importance of truth against authoritarian lies, portraying parenting as a means of transmitting values. However, family structures and roles receive minimal exploration amid the film's primary emphasis on Orwell's intellectual legacy and political warnings.
The film connects Christianity to historical violence and prejudice, depicting the Crusades as an example of religious justification for aggression against non-Christians and featuring a 19th-century Anglican cleric's lecture that divides humanity along racial lines in support of colonialism.
No LGBTQ+ characters or themes appear in the film. It centers on Orwell's life, dystopian writings, and contemporary political parallels involving surveillance and totalitarianism.
No transgender characters or themes appear in the documentary. It focuses on Orwell's biography and the enduring impact of his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four on discussions of authoritarianism, surveillance, and truth in modern society.
The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.
This documentary uses male actor Damian Lewis to narrate as historical male figure George Orwell, alongside archival footage and excerpts from his works, without altering any canonical or historical genders in portrayals.
No race swaps occur in the documentary, which uses a white actor to voice the white historical figure George Orwell and archival footage of real individuals without changing their racial portrayals.
Viewer Rating Breakdown
User Ratings
6.8
7.2
Critic Ratings
8.3
7.4
More Like This
Leans Progressive
8.7
The Taste of Mango
(2024)
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
10.0
Sara's Circus
(2024)
Political: Not Rated
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
7.9
Real Haunts 4
(2025)
Political: Center
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
8.5
Breaking Boundaries
(2024)
Political: Not Rated
Diversity: Not Rated
Leans Progressive
8.0
Joseph Losey: The Man with Four Names
(1998)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Low
Progressive
7.7
Bread & Roses
(2024)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: High
Leans Progressive
8.0
Bowling for Columbine
(2002)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Moderate
Leans Progressive
9.4
Out of Plain Sight
(2025)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Moderate
Progressive
7.8
Before Stonewall
(1984)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: High
LGBTQ: Positive
Progressive
6.6
The Program
(2024)
Political: Not Rated
Diversity: Not Rated
Leans Progressive
7.2
The Best of Me
(2025)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
8.5
Meanwhile
(2025)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: High
LGBTQ: Positive
Progressive
8.8
Yellowstone
(2020)
Political: Center
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
8.3
Locked Out
(2024)
Political: Not Rated
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
10.0
There Is Another Way
(2025)
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: High
Progressive
6.8
Religulous
(2008)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Moderate
LGBTQ: Positive
Progressive
8.6
Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus
(2025)
Political: Center
Diversity: Not Rated
Leans Progressive
6.8
UnBroken
(2025)
Political: Center
Diversity: High
Leans Progressive
8.0
Secret Mall Apartment
(2025)
Political: Strong Left
Diversity: Not Rated
Progressive
7.4
Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words
(2024)
Political: Leans Left
Diversity: High