‘I’ ON CULTURE
As a former history teacher, I can freely call the new animated film Animal Farm an abomination, something to be despised, something offensive. The book by George Orwell is a superb use of our language to show the horrors of communism. It has been taught by thousands of teachers, read by millions of students. But this new version, by veteran actor Andy Serkis, focuses more on an anti-capitalism note, although it does use many of the book’s points.
Serkis decided to make it “family friendly,” so even though Orwell crafted a warning about totalitarianism and the book is, to put it mildly, grim, the new movie is far more optimistic. As a result, the message is garbled and lost. And that, in an era when many of our politicians seem to want to emulate at least some of the notions that led Orwell, a committed socialist, to a warning about a collective state, the message might have been useful.
As most of you know, the story focuses on a farm where the overworked, exploited animals revolt against the farmer. The leader of the rebellion, a pig named Snowball (voiced by Laverne Cox), calls for cooperation and equality. The new theme, proclaimed to all, is that “all animals are equal.” But there is a movement, led by another pig, Napoleon (Seth Rogan), to enforce the changes that he and his clique prefer. That leads to the eventual brilliant amendment to the original slogan: “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” A brilliant take by Orwell on the hypocrisy of Stalinist leaders in the USSR.
Some events, like the eventual fate of the workhorse Boxer (Woody Harrelson), a true believer who works himself into collapse following orders and is then sent to be turned into glue as a reward, remain. But Serkis and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller have built up the part of Pilkington (Glenn Close), an uber-capitalist who embodies its absolute worst elements. The animals are quickly corrupted by the ease of getting and spending money on frivolous things.
Add to this, Stoller and Serkis decided it needed a happy ending. So they created Lucky (Gaten Matarazzo), a sort of protégé of Napoleon who leads a moderate revolt against the pigs. After all, why not have a happy ending? It makes up for the miserable conditions most of the workers had even after the collapse of officially communist regimes and ignores the fact that the people who had been in charge of making certain everyone was treated equally wound up running the countries as newly minted billionaires.
The cast was good. All of those above did a nice job of promoting the evils of capitalism as they earned more for a couple of hours’ work behind a microphone than almost any of us will make in a year. I should also mention that Kieran Culkin as Napoleon’s sidekick, and Jim Parsons as Carl, the leader of a flock of sheep, all of whom sounded like Parsons, were excellent.
The film only helps emphasize the divide between the Hollywood establishment and the rest of us. They had a chance to really delve into the evils of enforced socialism, the clash between its rhetoric and reality. That was Orwell’s aim. Instead, they decided to enforce their beliefs over those of one of the last century’s greatest political philosophers and alter a brilliant piece of propaganda.
As a result of these changes, the whole message has been corrupted. There are plenty of movies showing the issues of capitalism, and a succession of television dramas that harp on all the games played on the route to making some people really wealthy. But that was not Orwell’s aim. I was annoyed at how the recent film of Wuthering Heights strayed from the novel, but it still kept to the mood and general effect of Bronte’s work. This film essentially turns the book’s goal and plot on its ear.
It was not well made, and its story, to say the least, is muddled. Rather than condemning Stalinism and its brutality, it seems to assume that today’s capitalists are essentially the same as communists. That plays well in Hollywood. Frankly, the film should be sent to the same glue factory as Boxer. Do not go to see it at the movies. Or on television. Best choice: read the book.
