I want to preface my comments by saying that I greatly appreciate the fact that this film was even made. My major problem with the film is that the incessant narration by the collie character really took away from the power of the story. After reflection, I realized that the reason from this is that on the one hand the narration added a personal touch to a story that is fundamentally about a terribly dehumanizing (de-animalizing?) situation. In the original Animal Farm film the narration has an anonymous, sinister quality. It's amusing to find that in a generation that always tries to "shock", the makers of this film decided to tone down the true barbarity of communism by adding a "touch-feely" tone to it.
That aside, the film did benefit from some very amusing satires of the Eistenstein propaganda films. The footage successfully resulted in the lowering my option of the great director.
Go see the original "Animal Farm" film. It is more loyal to the book and is the difficult film experience that is really called for.
That aside, the film did benefit from some very amusing satires of the Eistenstein propaganda films. The footage successfully resulted in the lowering my option of the great director.
Go see the original "Animal Farm" film. It is more loyal to the book and is the difficult film experience that is really called for.