George Orwell

**SPOILERS** This movie works on so many levels. Two performances by Mel Gibson and Sean Penn that may be the best in their lives. The story focuses on the creation of the Oxford Dictionary and the unlikely pairing of two people, a Scottish lexicographer and philologist and an American doctor driven insane by his guilt in killing an innocent man. Sean Penn's performance convinces you of the hopeless world this man condemned himself to and his desperate need for forgiveness and redemption. Mel Gibson's portrayal of James Murray as his friend while juggling a corrupt board overseeing him, his family, and the impossibility of creating a dictionary of every word in human history from whole cloth with no computers is to me his best. Do yourself a favor. This is on Netflix, and rental is cheap. WARNING: some scenes are brutal and it's not child appropriate. Plus the subject matter is DEEP. But if you love true history and the desire to ponder and think deep thoughts, this movie is for you.