Disappointing. First off, I am a big fan of Raoul Peck as a filmmaker. His astute observations both in his narrative and non-narrative films always rang true and powerful to me. But with his new overproduced (produced by Alex Gibney and distributed by NEON- both I'm less fond of) Orwell documentary, he connects the dots while ignoring others, ends in conclusion with the old saying "people have power", which in this terrible world we are living in, doesn't land as powerful and hopeful as before but almost sounds naive. I have to admit, after attending the rally against the ICE raids and everything else, I was feeling hopelessness taking over and we are fighting the battle already lost and as if feeling like I was just going through the motions, like an old habit. Yes, with Trump in power with all the craziness that he is inflicting on the world every day, Orwell's predictions of the dystopian future seems tame.
The film's whole narration is from Orwell's own words - letters to his friends and family and excerpts from his diaries (narrated by Damien Lewis). Peck starts promisingly with Orwell's background; his days as a policeman in British colonial India and how it shaped Orwell's view - the injustices of the oppressors and indignities of being oppressed. His acute description of the British class system - his family was 'middle class' pretending to be upper class and therefore the middle class disparaged the poor. But this important thread never resurfaces ever again as he juxtaposes the various film versions of his work - Animal Farm and 1984 and the past and present reality - dictators, the rise of ultra right conservatism across the globe, the atrocities in Rohingya, El Salvador, Ukraine, Gaza, January 6th and so forth.
Yes, the surveillance state and media disinformation campaign he foresaw came true. But the dignified portraits of 'everyday people' doesn't hold the power as it might have had decades ago. I don't know, maybe I am jaded and giving in to hopelessness. I will still go through the motion as that's what I know. So see you at the next demonstration?
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