Animal Farm

The cartoon that backfired mankind.

Speaking of great films based upon even greater books, IT has officially become the number 1 horror film of all time, outdoing The Exorcist, and such news sort of inspired me to continue searching for great films based upon novels. Today's entry has it all: Propaganda, CIA budget, British animation and what I think may be the very first full length cartoon meant to be watched by adult audiences for political purposes. Anyway, this film we're talking about is none other than Animal Farm, a 1954 animated movie directed by Joey Batchelor & John Halas. The whole film production budget was, believe it or not, in charge of the CIA, since those were the days of the Cold War. 

The original Animal Farm was a 1945 anti Stalin allegorical novella written by George Orwell. According to Orwell himself, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell, a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directed Stalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during the Spanish Civil War. The Soviet Union, he believed, had become a brutal dictatorship, built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror. In a letter to Yvonne Davet, Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin ("un conte satirique contre Staline"), and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946), wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing, "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole". The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story; U.S. publishers dropped the subtitle when it was published in 1946, and only one of the translations during Orwell's lifetime kept it. Other titular variations include subtitles like "A Satire" and "A Contemporary Satire". Orwell suggested the title Union des républiques socialistes animales for the French translation, which abbreviates to URSA, the Latin word for "bear", a symbol of Russia. It also played on the French name of the Soviet Union, Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques.

Mr. Jones, the mean drunk farmer.

Come at me bro'!

Eric Arthur Blair, who wrote under the pseudonym George Orwell (1903-1950), was undoubtedly one of literature's most insightful social and political commentators, and his unique brand of satire is most evident in his two famous novels, "Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)" and the above mentioned satire. In the guise of a deliberately-straightforward children's fable, Orwell wrote a sharp and knowing satire of totalitarianism, particularly Stalinism, and the final result is obviously unsuitable for children. Stylistically, animation was clearly the most suitable medium for a cinema retelling of the story, but how does one tackle such mature and complex issues using a technique that is generally dismissed as children's fare? Animal Farm has all the answers.

Manor Farm, despite the onset of spring, is struggling; it's drunken owner, Mr. Jones, has left the farm unproductive and its livestock ill-treated. One night, the venerable elderly pig Old Major calls a meeting in the barn, and he stresses the importance of revolution if they are to survive and prosper. Old Major dies shortly thereafter, but his ideals remain, and the farm animals band together to hound the drunken Mr. Jones from his farm once and for all. The most intelligent animals are, of course, the pigs, and a brave and idealistic pig named Snowball takes charge of the situation, decreeing that, in their new democratic society, all animals shall be considered equal. However, the dark and greedy Napoleon has secretly trained his own army of attack dogs, and he eventually unleashes them on Snowball, who is presumably mauled to death in the surrounding scrub. Napoleon steps forward as leader and dictator, and the other animals come to realize that their situation is now far worse than it had ever been.

Only through revolution can animals survive.

a Savior that deals in absolutes.

Animal Farm was the first widely-released feature-length animated film produced in the United Kingdom, and elements of Disney, like the humorous little duckling, are quite noticeable, while still maintaining the generally-dark tone of the material. As an adaptation of Orwell's original novel, the film is largely very loyal. Having first read "Animal Farm" some years ago, and having my wife read it last week, my recollection of narrative details is broad thanks to her fresh recent read, and so we decided to look for the 1954 animated film.  

The film, animation wise, looks fantastic. if you're a fan of non CGI cartoons like the classics conceived by Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, and many others, then this film animation style will undeniably make you remember them. Watching it without reading the book beforehand won't spoil the fan for you, and I'm sure it may surprise you even more that such an old animated film is actually propaganda paid by the CIA, and also a very accurate adaptation of a book that despite its age (72 years!), remains as relevant as ever in the current state of our disappointing society. 

Pigs are smarter.

Pigs rule?

Still today, 63 years after its theatrical debut, Animal Farm is one of the darkest animated films you could ever watch. The background music written by Matyas Seiber gives you chills every time something bad and/or awfully unfair is about to happen to the poor animals from Manor Farm. 

The film's running time is only 70 minute long, and I gotta say, the producers did a fantastic job comprising the original 112 pages the book has into such brief running time. In addition, the whole film is narrated by Gordon Heath (sometimes making you feel it's an audio book, instead of a movie) and all the voices are provided by Maurice Denham. Also, the animation department, knows their business well, and are capable of bringing to life the features that Orwell assigned to his animals in the original novel. For instance, Boxer the horse, looks like a complete stud, a strong animal capable of achieving tremendous hard work. While, his counterpart, Benjamin the donkey, looks innocent, weaker and determined to help his best friend. Napoleon looks like the disgusting piece of shit pig he is meant to be, and so does his cocksucker spokesman Squealer. 

Benjamin & Boxer.

What the fuck did I just read?!

Now, the replay value this film has is the fact the not even Orwell thought about his story becoming larger than life, as it doesn't necessarily represent a frozen moment from the past in human history. Neither the film, nor the book address the pigs or humans as "commies", "dictators", "right wing fuckers" or anything whatsoever. And there is where the magnificence of the original book and film lie: The never ending battle between the oppressed and the oppressors. The childish dream of a savior that will bring peace and democracy to everyone just because. The utopia of a leader, who's only interest is the welfare of his people.  The hope of a world of politicians with no agendas. 

Yeah, right!

Overall, a magnificent film that does the unthinkable: stay as loyal as possible to the original source material, and despite a couple of modifications, that were clearly made for purposes of keeping the viewer interested from start to finish (namely, those who read the book). Also, the far more hopeful finale, anticipates what happened in Europe with communism even decades before! Besides, this film is history in the making. An actual cold war propaganda cartoon!

Here's the movie trailer: