Snowball’s Redemption

Based on George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm"

The evening was quite far drawing to a close when all Animal’s Farm was preparing to sleep. A drowsy silence spread rapidly through every corner of the farm and now only the whoosh of the wind in the branches of the trees could be heard.

The moonlight and the silence turned very hard to someone to sneak in the farm unnoticed, so when Snowball broke into the fences of the farm with two big dogs, they would certainly be on the spot. Clover was the first to notice that something was out of the usual, but thought, cleverly, not telling anyone, even more considering the recently episodes in Animal’s Farm. Clover set off carefully out of the barn, but frightened to be seen by Snowball and his body-guards alone, she woke up Muriel and Benjamin to come along. They watched silently and carefully Snowball’s movements and followed him. He was going toward the barn that moments earlier Clover had been. Muriel thought that could mean trouble: “What is he up to?”. “No idea” said Clover, concerned. “Maybe we should look closer.” They agreed, worried. 

The three set off more carefully than ever, step by step heading (off) to the great barn, the very same place that once had held the efforts to a long dreamed freedom. Benjamin said that they should stay a little far from the place so they could listen inside and figure out what Snowball was up to, without being seen. But the operation proved itself quite impossible. There wasn’t a way to listen without getting closer and risking to be seen and furthermore Snowball had entered the barn alone, and his dogs could not be seen so far. 

“Whatever he is plotting….” Benjamin could not finish his thoughts. The two big dogs, fangs ferociously gleaming in the moonlight, were ready to bite them all. Not daring even to breathe, the three fellows froze on the spot staring the dogs.

 “Snowball shall speak to you! Follow me!” Said the smaller one

Clover, Muriel and Benjamin followed the dogs into the barn. 

“I’ve been expecting nobody else but you, comrades.” Snowball started ceremoniously. “For a long I wished (I’ve been wishing) to speak to you, I’m not here to threat you, I’ve come to open up your eyes and ask for redemption. Since the beginning of the rebellion I’d always believed in the Seven Commandments and in what we had done; the achievements we had accomplished, the dreams we had pursuit. But friends, be in charge is everything but easy. Napoleon and I had set up many things for the greater good, but power is an ungrateful thing and long before we noticed it, we were permitting ourselves abuses on that power. The privileges had seduced us, we even started to corrupt the foundations of the rebellion…the Seven Commandments were (was) spoiled; the tyranny was seeded by our own madness of power. I’ve realized very lately how far we’d gone, but Napoleon hasn’t (didn’t see) seen, and I suffered for that insubordination. For a long I have thought, for a long I have desired to redeem myself from you. I do sorry I haven’t seen earlier, friends, and I do ask for mercy. I’ve spoiled our commandments and I’ve let my comrades suffer our abuses. I can’t leave with this remorse upon me….” Snowball hardly dared to cast a glance at them. “Napoleon must be stopped; he is blind and won’t accept the hard true of his actions… I’ve tried. See my friends; everything’s gone wrong in the rebellion….”

Nobody had noticed, early, how tired Snowball’s face appeared, maybe hardened by the remorse. Clover, Muriel and Benjamin had expected everything but that. The three stood staring at him speechlessly.

Snowball went on: “Try and do something now before is too late. I can help, but Napoleon must not see me, he would take by personal revenge. Maybe I can find redemption after all.” Snowball turned back to the barn’s door, but before leaving, he said: “I’ll be nearby”. There was no longer formality in his speech.

Writing a dialogue

I was to choose eight different expressions I have learned in some of my classes and use them in a twenty-line argument. Then, that was it:

“Keep your secrets far from your heart”. It’s easy to say, harder to perform and absolutely true on its saying. Should a man be able to keep his secrets away from their hearts, he would be less manipulated, or even violated on his dearest feelings, moreover, they would be in safekeeping.

Some would say this behavior turns people colder and distant, often sourer. I’d say that human systems do turn people colder and harder, actually. If you yearn to live inside the System, you have to bid farewell to your innocence and keep at the good job drawn in the quote in order to keep yourself from any harm, otherwise you be hiding yourself in your own private meadow of heaven. 

Nobody can live apart from the System for a long time. Sooner or later the System will keep you up, and it’s going to be even harder and it doesn’t matter how fiercely you try to keep your innocence under. “Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel…”

Despite the fact of the World’s cruel System, the top quote it’s a keepsake, anyway. Maybe we’ll be able to find balance between the quote warning and our humanity.

“One of the best things capitalism created was immigration. Taking ignorant, backward people out of their small isolated towns and lives and throwing them onto the world’s stage.”

Vladmir Lenin

February, 2009

Capitalism as an economic system has its basis on trades and ownership of capital throwing people desperately on a search for a spot onto the shining stage of global market. Wherever you may be, capitalism is the global economy – regardless of small countries which lay aside in this dynamic scenario, though – dealing with means to produce wealth and controlling it: the production system.

The Industry Revolution set in motion a chain of events which led Capitalism to what it is nowadays, much more dynamic and global. Aftermath, Globalization stretched its long fingers through the globe, leading people to cross the oceans to work in the multimarket, banks and thousands of others overseas multinationals. Undoubtedly Capitalism has promoted economical and social growth in a way that had never been thought possible. Despite of that, many problems have arisen throughout the years and many thinkers would say that is due to Capitalism system. Some of those problems would be: unfair and inefficient distribution of wealth and power; a tendency toward market monopoly or oligopoly; imperialism and various forms of economic and cultural exploitation; and phenomena such as social alienation, inequality, unemployment, and economic instability. Alienation of entire countries, not only regarding economical, but also social alienation, is the cause to make those people to enter in the world’s stage from the backdoors, reminding the protagonists that the show should include them.

Nowadays, thinkers and experts are contesting the current system, as they say the system is failing, maybe so, for everything has its beginning and fall. Even though, the Capitalism has been inherently in our lives, people are so attached to the system, in a so intrinsically way, that our own personal concepts, our own state of mind, in a single word: the way we perceived the world has been totally ruled by the system, thus a change in this pattern would take a long while to take effect.

MovieReview

Miss Potter

“Miss Potter is one of the sweetest, most charming and beautiful movies of the year.” – Jeffery Lyons, NBC’s Reel Talk

Very much early than the worldly famous teenager wizard, the surname Potter was also famous and yet fantasy-related. With a series of 23 children’s books, Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), and his beloved talking animals, such as the naughty Peter Rabbit, has enchanted a generation of children and yet had become one of the most well-succeeded writer of literature in history. Now, Chris Noonan has gifted the audience with a movie as so charming and sweet as Beatrix’s tales.

The plot pictures flashbacks of Beatrix’s childhood, beautifully mixed with her current time, at the age of thirty’s, as to explain Beatrix personality. At the time when most young women of her class aimed only to make a good marriage, Beatrix became an icon. She grew up in the British aristocracy of 1860s, which definitely shaped Beatrix into a introspective person, magically performed by Renée Zellweger. The flashbacks, somehow connected to present moments, are responsible to provide the audience enough material to get into Beatrix’s world, inviting us to dive into her mind and heart. Beatrix used to draw and paint – and talk – with the animals since her childhood, and then made up stories for them. Most of the characters of her later works were by the publishing time already created, which happened only when she met Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), her publisher and later, her fiancé. Norman Warne was the youngest of two publisher brothers, who desperately wanted to show he was fit for the job, which made his brothers gifted him with they described as “bunny book”. Norman then, took the chance and turned Peter Rabbit and his mates into a success. Later they grow a strong relationship of first, friendship and later, sincere love.

Noonan main focus is to draw the film as beautiful and sweet as Beatrix’s work itself, creating by far a romantic atmosphere powered by the delightful movie photography and animated animals who literally come to life, a mix of traditional filmmaking and animation. It’s wonderful to see Jemina Puddle-Duck swinging her cotton-tail in an infant-like behaviour tricking with her painter. Useless to speak about the score: majestically representing all the feelings and soul of the movie. Summing up: Song, photography, light, camera angle, costume are all one single unity in this film to power it with the sweetest and cutest story of Miss Potter.