Two & Two

In a schoolroom populated by identically clad young students, the teacher arrives at 8am precisely to make quite a startling announcement. 2 + 2 = 5!! He then proceeds to ram that home, despite protestations from the children that this is just plain wrong! As they become more emphatic, a mini-rebellion broods and the teacher drafts in some moral support from older pupils who trot out the desired answer parrot-fashion before presenting a firing squad to the pupil who still insists it's four not five. This short film demonstrates quite an interesting concept. That of indoctrination, especially when driven by fear. It also, though, shows us a little of a defiant human spirit and that works quite well from the boys in the face of their oppressive teacher in public or surreptitiously. As a piece of cinema it's unremarkably filmed, somewhat implausible and repetitive - maybe the latter criticism helps it prove it's point, but when you're watching you get the gist way before the end. Interesting, though.