Animal Farm – Aufstand der Tiere (1954)

Animal Farm – Aufstand der Tiere: Directed by Joy Batchelor, John Halas. With Gordon Heath, Maurice Denham. A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong as the victors create a new tyranny among themselves.

“George Orwellu0026#39;s novel u0026#39;Animal Farmu0026#39; was a fable that worked as a bang-on critique of the Russian revolution and Stalinism. In it a group of mistreated farmyard animals rise up against their owner and overthrow him. They then briefly form a Utopian society that quickly deteriorates into something very similar to the old system that was in place before.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDifferent animals represent different people. The wise old pig Old Major represents Karl Marx and the beginning of communist teachings; Farmer Jones is Czar Nicholas II and represents the old regime; Napoleon and Snowball the pigs are respectively the ruthless Joseph Stalin and idealistic Leon Trotsky; the pack of dogs are the secret police and violent state enforcement; Boxer represents the hard working peasants; Benjamin, the wise but powerless individual; the sheep the unthinking masses. While Manor Farm itself is Russia and Animal Farm the Soviet Union.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe format of the fable works extremely well in illustrating the story of the formation of the USSR. This cartoon version of it is in the main a pretty impressive adaption. While the ending goes against the Dystopian one favoured by Orwell, itu0026#39;s not really surprising that it does this, although itu0026#39;s unfortunate. But it doesnu0026#39;t really damage the film very much as itu0026#39;s central idea remains intact. The animation itself is good enough, and even though there is a lot of narration I didnu0026#39;t consider this to be a problem. I thought that all things considered this was a good stab at an iconic bit of literature.”