A marvel of passionate succinctness, Robert Kane Pappas' docu critically examines the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Docu asks, "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?" "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" refrains from preaching to the choir but if its biting analysis proves true, film is unlikely to ever be presented to the general public. Indie arthouse and cable venues therefore beckon.

Pic meticulously traces the process by which black may be turned into white, with frequent references to totalitarian states both fictional and real -- Orwell's "1984" competes with Goebbels' theories on propaganda and blatant examples of Soviet revisionism for pride of place.

Helmer Pappas (director of the fiction features "Now I Know," and "Some Fish Can Fly") forsakes all pretense of presenting both sides, since presumably the other side is promoted daily by radio, television and the press. Pappas offers like-minded journalists, media watchdogs, scholars and legislators who voice their deep concerns about the health of democracy in America.

Vermont Congressman Bernie Sanders, an Independent, wonders why his constituents never ask him why they must work longer hours for less pay than they did 25 years ago or why factories are moving to Third World countries. Instead, a worker might accost him angrily about his vote against the repeal of the estate tax (redubbed "death tax" to better demonize it), which affects only the top two percent of the population.

http://stage.variety.com/review/VE1117922351.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

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