Animal Farm

840 Words2 Pages

Before watching the movie, I was expecting ninety minutes of boredom, a movie that didn't follow the storyline of the novel. But based on the spectacular anecdote written by George Orwell, thanks to the director John Stephenson and Producer Greg Smith, the satire Animal Farm becomes a movie . Like the book, the movie is a drama/ action film. It focuses on a farm, - Manor Farm- which is run by an alcoholic farmer known as the character Jones.

Jones mistreats, abuses and starves the animals, forcing them to work day after day, striving to make the farm a success. This is because he is in debt and fears the possibility of losing the farm. Unfortunately, his hard work didn't pay off, and Jones was faced with more disappointment. The animals grow tired of his behavior, and after a dream the most trusted, honored pig Old Major(voiced by Peter Ustinov) had, an announcement was made. Old Major informed the other animals of the life they could have, the life he had dreamt of, an escape from Jones and the injustice and punishment that had been constantly inflicted upon them. Shortly after the announcement, Old Major died. His death was all the animals needed to set them off the edge, to push them to rebel against Jones. They scare Jones and his wife away from Manor Farm and celebrate their conquest by renaming the farm " Animal Farm" and pig Squealer(voiced by Ian Holm)immediately inscribes the commandments of Old Major's "Animalism" that he had spoke of before his death, upon the barn. They included things such as, whatever goes on two legs is the enemy, whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, no animal shall wear clothes, no animal shall sleep in a bed, no animal shall drink alcohol, no animal shall kill any other a...

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... set the mood and create a sense of reality. Where as in the novel, the idea of talking animals taking over a farm did not seem as realistic nor is as entertaining as viewing the events ourselves. The novel was great and the text was more detailed, but the film seemed to bring the story to life.

This allegory mirrors the events of the Soviet Union, as well as the Russian Revolution. When Squealer is ordered by Napoleon to change the seven commandments, it represents how the Soviet Government changed their communist theory, and made it more of a reformation of capitalism rather than a replacement. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys history, Even if you aren't interested in history, this movie contains interesting aspects of life itself and demonstrates clearly, how domination can change a person completely, as it did with the animals of Animal Farm.

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