A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when the victors create a new tyranny among themselves.A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when the victors create a new tyranny among themselves.A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when the victors create a new tyranny among themselves.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 nomination total
- Narrator
- (voice)
- All Animals
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMany parents were alarmed at the bleakness of the film, having taken their children thinking it was a film along the lines of a Walt Disney cartoon.
- GoofsWhen Old Jones grabs the dynamite out of the box, he has three sticks in each hand, but when he puts his hands together a seventh stick appears from nowhere. Then, when he lights the fuse, there are twelve sticks in the pile.
- Quotes
[The laws of Animal Farm are being read]
Snowball: No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall sleep in a bed. Four legs good, two legs bad.
[The chickens are very annoyed at this rule]
Squealer: Wings count as legs.
[The chickens realize that Squealer is right]
Group of sheep: Four legs good, two legs bad. Four legs good, two legs bad.
Snowball: [continuing the reading of the laws] No animal shall kill another animal. All animals are equal.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Pieces of Silver (1989)
George Orwell wrote a fable about revolution betrayed, and laced it liberally with references to the Russian Revolution. Much of this dimension is still visible in the film. A wise pig, Old Major, proclaims the revolution before dying. Old Major is sort of a Marx figure, although, to me, he seems to be drawn to look like Churchill. Proclamation made, nothing happens. However Farmer Jones is drunk and the animals don't get their feed. The Tsar's mismanagement produced his revolution as well. Russian parallels continue. Counter-revolutionary farmers (capitalist states) attack Animal Farm but fail. One pig, Snowball (Trotsky), tries to spread revolution to other farms (world revolution), but is murdered by his associate, Napoleon (Stalin), who prefers to consolidate his power at home. The film also has Five Year Plans, industrialization programmes, forcible collectivization, showtrials with quick executions afterwards, and historical revisionism.
But I saw this film perhaps three times long before I understood anything much about the political parallels. I liked it as much then if not more so. Knowledge of that side does tend to turn the film into an intellectual experience, but viewers who have no prior exposure to the historical facts receive the raw emotional jolt which more politically astute critics maintain the film lacks.
Regardless of whether you know a lot about Russia and her Revolution, or nothing at all, Britain's first animated feature is a film with a strong story which adults and mature kids should find absorbing, maybe even "devastating", as The New York Times once claimed back in the days when Stalin was still lying warm in his grave, if not in anyone's heart.
As for a rating on "Animal Farm", the sheep say, "Four stars good, two stars b-a-a-a-d!"
- Varlaam
- Feb 13, 1999
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Aufstand der Tiere
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 12 minutes