Whatever problems I had with this film by Robert Kane Pappas, I wish some of the more trivial and less controversial points it makes and ideas it presents were more widely known to the general public.  ‘Orwell rolls in his grave’ is a film about media ownership and concentration and how it can undermine the vital role of a free press in a democratic society.  Pappas has used ideas on reinterpretation of words and concepts derived from early to mid-twentieth century author and commentator George Orwell (see 1984 and “Politics and the English Language”), along with introductions from a Michael Moore speech to introduce extensive and insightful (given the medium) interviews with top communications scholars and critics, Congressmen, journalists, and others.  And the collection of experts is pretty impressive.  Heavily featured are Robert McChesney of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Charles Lewis of the Center for Public Integrity, Mark Crispin Miller of New York University, Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Mark Lloyd of MIT, journalist Greg Palast, and more.  I am personally not sure that the allusions to Orwell’s work are entirely justified, but the interviews are for the most part pretty helpful in understanding these important issues.  Some of the more interesting and unique parts of this film are the director’s interview with Peter Mitchelmore, former editor of the New York Post, and coverage of the FCC and Telecommunications Act.

One review I read placed this documentary between Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mark Achbar and Joel Bakan’s masterful The Corporation in terms of presentation, content, and coherence, and this makes sense.  This film doesn’t quite have the coherence or insight, or the objectivity, of The Corporation, but doesn’t move quite as fast or over-simplify as much as Moore does.

For reviews, see here and here.  To learn more on the issue this film addresses, go to: http://www.orwellrollsinhisgrave.com/learnmore.htm

- Peter Broady

Peter Broady is a regular guy out of Wasilla, Alaska, who reads and writes in his spare time.  He can be contacted here, at his website, or by email at pbroady@gmail.com.