Why is “Orwell: 2+2=5” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some violent content and brief graphic nudity.” The Kids-In- Mind.com evaluation includes two scenes showing bare buttocks, breasts and a woman’s public hair, several brief references to rape, many scenes of real-life violence in archival and news footage, including bloody wounds and dead bodies of adults and children, and one bleeped F-word. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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In this documentary, readings of George Orwell’s writing (voiced by Damian Lewis) are interspersed with real-life footage, as well as scenes from films, showcasing Orwell’s prescient vision of descending into authoritarianism and exposes those that enable it. Directed by Raoul Peck. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in several languages, including Hindi, German, Russian, French, Spanish, with and without translation. [Running Time: 1:59]

Orwell: 2+2=5 SEX/NUDITY 6

 – A man and a woman stand in an apartment, nude (we see buttocks, bare breasts and the woman’s public hair) and they are arrested while naked (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A man and a woman undress in a field (sex is implied); we see a brief glimpse of the woman’s breasts and we see the man’s bare torso, the man rolls away from the woman and we see facial expressions that imply sex as a voiceover reads a description of sex and climax as rebellion.
► A montage shows several couples kissing, some passionately.
► A man is quoted as saying, “Black women make me so hungry.” Several scenes show real footage of people discussing “sexually inappropriate content” without detail. A list of excuses for book bans are shown on screen, including a description of content as “explicit” or “containing rape and masturbation” (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details).
► Imprisoned men are seen without shirts, and with bare torsos visible (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). Men at a white supremacist rally stand shirtless; we see bare torsos and arms with tattoos of Nazi imagery. People at a beach wear bathing suits (we see bare legs and men’s bare torsos). Several scenes show men in hospital beds without shirts (we see their bare torsos).
► A few scenes show animal genitalia. A dog walks in a street with its testicles visible. An illustration from the novel Animal Farm shows a donkey’s penis.

Orwell: 2+2=5 VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – Many scenes of real-life video footage show the violent aftermath of war and military attacks: Buildings and homes are bombed and dead bodies are found in rubble, including the bodies of children. Refugee boats are shot at and bombed while a voiceover reads a fictional description of people being blown apart, including a child’s severed arm flying up in the air; we see real footage of a dead child washed up on a beach. Multiple scenes show dead bodies in bags in the street, and people weep and scream over their dead loved ones. A still image shows a smiling soldier kneeling on a civilian’s back; the civilian is visibly bloody and injured.
► Many scenes of real-life video footage show military and police brutality against protestors and dissenters. A person is carried on a gurney with a visible, bloody leg wound. We see many dead bodies wrapped in sheets and laid on the ground in several scenes. Police and military attack protestors, hitting people with batons, firing bean bag guns, and spraying people with hoses in several scenes. A man holds a child’s body in the backseat of a car and screams, “They killed my son.” Several men armed with assault rifles drag a man out of a house and put him in a police vehicle.
► Many scenes of real-life video footage show abuse of prisoners, particularly in El Salvador and Honduras. In real-life footage, a child screams and cries off-screen, begging authorities not to take his mother away, saying, “Don’t touch her, don’t take her.” Real news stories discuss the kidnapping and murder of journalists in Myanmar, Russia, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. News segments discuss the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and dissident; a transcript of his final moments is read aloud, describing him saying, “I can’t breathe,” screaming and gasping, followed by the sounds of sawing.
► Real-life footage of the American January 6th 2021 insurrection shows people smashing windows, assaulting and rushing police officers, and breaking into the Capitol building; a police officer fires a gun and a woman is struck by a bullet (we see her collapsed with blood around her neck); people shout that politicians need to pay the “ultimate price” and to “string them up” and we see still images of gallows on the Capitol lawn.
► Real-life footage of the hanging of several Nazis in Kyiv is combined with a voiceover reading a description of a hanging from the novel “1984”; officers place the men’s heads in nooses and we see their bodies drop and go limp. Men are forced to kneel or march. Men are piled on top of each other in truck beds and they are sometimes blindfolded.
► We hear background sounds of screaming and crying in pain, with torture implied and many scenes show movies and television shows that include violent arrest and torture: We see a man with his throat slit (the wound visible) and a man with many bloody lacerations on his face; a drill approaches a human skull; we don’t see contact; a man is bound to a chair and another man holds his face and brings dental tools toward him; a man and woman are arrested while nude, the woman is punched in the stomach and an officer throws her over his shoulder and carries her away while she screams; we see a man strapped to a table and he writhes and screams; and a man is placed in a face cage where rats scurry toward him and it is implied they will begin to chew through him but we do not see this.
► In several scenes, people fire guns into the air. We see still images of conflict and hear shouting and gunshots. News segments are shown about the Titan submersible disappearance and the deaths of the occupants. A still image of a mortuary shows dead bodies, uncovered and laid out. We see bombed buildings in Ukraine from 2022, some still on fire. We see bombed-out and dilapidated buildings in Berlin after World War II. Real-life footage shows bulldozers destroying homes in Gaza. Many scenes show real-life footage of armies marching and goose-stepping. Photos show members of authoritarian regimes who were executed and edited out of photos and records.
► A man asked about his support of Donald Trump says, “He could commit murder and I’d still be with him.” A voiceover describes the goose-step as evoking a “vision of boots crashing down on faces.” In real-life footage, Spanish activists discuss collective action and the danger that Franco could return and kill them. A voiceover describes Orwell’s experience as an imperial police officer in Burma and his disgust with imperialism; he describes abusing people, free and imprisoned, and hitting “coolies with fists in rage” and he describes “100 million Indians living in starvation so England can have comfort.” A voiceover describes Orwell’s time working for the socialist movement in Spain as “interesting but thoroughly bloody,” and he describes narrowly escaping state police while others were arrested. American politicians discuss invading Iraq, mentioning weapons of mass destruction and anthrax attacks. Voice-overs describe violent scenes from George Orwell’s work, in particular “1984.” There is discussion of keeping a diary being punishable by death. Propaganda audio says that the country is at war and the enemies have “massacred people and raped women.” Real fearmongering headlines are shown in several scenes, with headlines like “Migrant Rape Horror.” A voiceover reads Orwell’s account of losing his wife, saying “Eileen is dead” after “a miserable five years of bad health and overwork,” and he worries about the impact on his young son, who adored her. In footage of George Orwell talking to his son, he tells his son that authoritarians will try to tell you 2+2=5, and they will “torture and kill you, and until the moment of death you will still insist 2+2=4.” In several scenes, a voiceover describes Orwell’s tuberculosis, including his having a cavity in one lung; he discusses wanting to see his son before he becomes “too frightening in appearance.” A voiceover describes the smell of a boarding school as “fecal.”
► Both real-life footage and movie scenes show book burnings, including the large resulting fires. In a scene from the movie “Fahrenheit 451,” a man burns books and records with a flamethrower while arrested people are forced down on their knees to watch. A list of excuses for book bans is shown on screen, including a description of content as “immoral, explicit, anti-war, or containing rape.” Still images are shown with captions showing people who were murdered by state police. Several scenes discuss “organized lying” to justify war, including Russia claiming that Ukraine is committing a genocide, to justify invading. Illustrations from the novel “Animal Farm” are shown, including violent imagery with animals, with some blood splatter.
► A few scenes show real footage of animal mistreatment with no visible injuries: an elephant is used in a labor camp, a man dangles a monkey by the leg while it squirms and a young girl kicks at a dog, which walks away. One scene shows a close-up view of a spider in a web.
► Several scenes show men in hospitals being cared for; one man has a visible surgical scar on his shoulder, which a nurse bandages. Throughout the film, there are sounds of wheezing and labored breathing.

Orwell: 2+2=5 LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word (bleeped), 3 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (odious little snob, tramps, sniveling, vile, scumbag, stupid, disgusting).. | profanity glossary |

Orwell: 2+2=5 SUBSTANCE USE

 – People smoke cigarettes in several scenes.

Orwell: 2+2=5 DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Fascism, tyranny, authoritarianism, racism, war, violence against children, violence against civilians, grief, socialism, fighting for freedom, collective action.

Orwell: 2+2=5 MESSAGE

 – George Orwell’s novels and political observations were prophetic, and have foretold the descent of even seemingly stable democracies into authoritarianism.