Orwell Turns In His
Grave (Documentary)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: B+ Documentary: B+
This site has been lucky and fortunate enough to cover
many more of the political documentaries that have come out of the boom
spearheaded by Michael Moore, but there have been a few that have been so
outstanding that they deserve special note.
Joining Unprecedented, Horns & Halos and any disc with
Noam Chomsky in dealing with current politics, Robert Kane Pappas’ amazing Orwell
Turns In His Grave (2004) is the best examination of how the media has
failed the American people and Democracy.
It asks how Orwellian the media’s behavior is today, when did it begin
to turn for the worse for news and journalism and why.
Mark Crispin Miller, Michael Moore, Vincent Bugliosi, and
many more names you should quickly become familiar with the rest of the
interviewees, as you may want to revisit, read, reread and reference them
again. Using quotes throughout, often
from Orwell’s 1984 and a few from his Animal Farm, punctuates all
the vital points made and hardcore questions asked. Where Moore used humor and bends his facts for effect, what is
being presented and exposed here is far more inarguable. Pappas edited and produced the intense,
densely loaded, 105 minutes that is more informative than entire calendar years
of 24-hour TV networks.
This is an amazing examination of media today and its
concentration (if not over-concentration) of ownership and how the media is
constructed. I was impressed in how
thorough the program was in deconstructing the myths, vicious lies and
brainwashed/force-fed ideas to susceptible persons when confronted with any
idea that challenges the status quo or things that are just too disturbing for
overly comfortable people to want to even start to think about. Do broadcasters have free speech
rights? Does the Fifth Amendment cover
corporations all of the sudden over the individual? Is the Internet really that much of a threat against the big
media companies and is that Internet guaranteed to always be free? For those who like free thought, a free
society and have not B.S.-ed themselves into brain death, Orwell Turns In
His Grave is an amazing, smart, mature, very well rounded political
documentary program that is a must-see and must-hear for those who are honestly
concerned and believe in a free America and free world.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is varied throughout as the
video footage goes back to old black and white tape from 1979! With that said, this does look good and is
exceptionally edited. The Dolby Digital
2.0 is a simple, clear stereo at its best and is as clean and clear as Pappas
could get it. The combination is
intriguing, gritty and like few documentaries like nothing you have seen
before. The newer footage looks as good
as analog NTSC video is going to look.
Extras include extended clips and interviews with various sources,
including political scholars going into further detail about the problems and
solutions to what is a crisis against ideas being heard. This runs 75 minutes and is as strong as the
main program. This could have gone on
for days and that is how much you will think on it after you have seen it. Catch it as soon as possible.
- Nicholas Sheffo
