To celebrate the release of Orwell: 2+2=5, Raoul Peck’s powerful new documentary that explores the continuing relevance of George Orwell’s work, we spoke to the film’s producer about the enduring value of Orwell’s perspective and why Peck was the ideal director for this urgent indictment of authoritarianism.
ON ORWELL
I was the only Brit on the team—Raoul [Peck] is Paris and Haiti, and Alex [Gibney, producer] is American. so we all came to it with different ideas of Orwell and how he spoke to us in the context of our own countries. Personally, I find the message about class and the social structure very interesting. When you layer on the present day challenges around immigration and integration, that makes the story incredibly present. You may not necessarily agree with Orwell’s politics, but the fact that he was writing Nineteen Eighty Four such a long time ago, but it could have been written today, is what I think will resonate with audiences now. These events are cyclical, and I think the challenge that we have now is that we’re so distracted now. What’s that terrible expression? A frog in boiling water? It’s that slow creep. We’re more distracted now than we’ve ever been, so it’s very easy not to notice the changes that are happening around us and therefore not take action before it’s too late.
ON TIME
I think the point that Raoul makes in the film is that, though yes, you could have continued evolving and adding to it because the news changes all the time, the message is still really the same. Whether you look at five years ago, today, or decades ago, we’re still on this trajectory of the erosion of democracy. The tech now is way beyond where we were even when we pitched the film eighteen months ago. I think the point is to highlight the timelessness of Orwell’s story.
ON REACHING AUDIENCES
There’s a natural, politically engaged audience that will come to the film, then there’s the literary audience that will come because they know his work, but i do think that there’s a layer of audiences amongst universities and schools that would greatly benefit watching this, especially if this is their first time experiencing Orwell’s work. I hope that it does ignite another layer of people to read his work, not just because of a politically engaged perspective, but actually because he was a brilliant writer. I hope it will reach university campuses soon.
ON RAOUL PECK
Raoul’s personal history, living under a dictatorship, having to move around the world as a result. He’s actually experienced living under an authoritarian rule firsthand, so he does bring to it that very personal, unique perspective that most of us have never seen. Therefore, he is in a position to look out at the audience and tell us, “you need to wake up. This is how it was for us, and this could also be for you.” You feel that urgency he brings when you watch the film.
ON HOPE
I think there is always hope, or else we may as well just give up now. If people want to collectively make a difference, they can, and they do. That’s the thing: they do. There’s that final scene in the film where you see collective action and how it does make a difference. It’s not all hopeless, and you can do something. It’s not easy to do it on your own, but you don’t have to. There are others out there who want to do it with you. That is the hope. It’s not always about changing laws, it can be something local. Covid made it very hard, so I think we need these films to energise people to continue to reconnect with the people around them, and ultimately create real change together.
