Tag: HAR: Farming
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Charlotte’s Web. Dir. Gary Winick. Paramount Pictures. 2006.
Based on the classic children’s story by E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web (2006) follows the journey of a runty piglet, Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay), saved by the farmer’s daughter Fern (Dakota Fanning) and raised on the nearby farm. Wilbur remains friendless until he meets Charlotte (Julia Roberts), the spider who lives in the barn. Although initially…
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Chicken Run. Dir. Peter Lord and Nick Park. Pathe Distribution Ltd.. 2000.
I must have first seen Aardman Animation’s Chicken Run (2000) around the age of seven, not long after its initial release, and I remember frequently quoting it after that. But the film’s self-consciousness about its family audience, manifested in the wonderful attention to detail, has meant that I have kept enjoying, noticing and learning new…
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Snatch. Dir. Guy Ritchie. Columbia Pictures. 2000.
What do you get when you cross an unlicensed boxing match, a gang of angry gypsies and an 86-carat diamond that everybody wants to get their hands on? Guy Ritchie’s Snatch.[i] The film revolves around the adventures of: Turkish (Jason Statham)and his sidekick Tommy (Stephen Graham): two boxing promoters tasked with finding a boxer for the fight, whilst trying…
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Povelitel’Mukh / Lord of the Flies. Dir. Vladimir Tyulkin. Kazakhfilm. 1990.
Vladimir Tyulkin’s Lord of the Flies (Tyulkin, 1990), shot in Kazakhstan on the eve of the Soviet Union’s fall, discusses imperial, social, and human fragility within the microcosm of ‘Grandpa’ Kirill’s yard. As Kirill states, “My yard is… a state in miniature… I look upon the numerous breeds of animals living in my yard as nations”. Kirill,…
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Animals: Friend or Food?. Dir. Jason Young . National Film Board of Canada. 2003.
Animals, a documentary film directed by Jason Young, follows a young couple’s journey through a year-long experiment in raising their own livestock on a farm in Nova Scotia. The re-birth of the abandoned farm the couple takes over mirrors his re-birth as he changes from urbanite to farmer. After questioning their relationship with animals, the two…
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Babe. Dir. Chris Noonan. Universal Pictures. 1995.
Based on Dick King Smith’s “The Sheep Pig”, Babe is the story of a young pig that is taken in by sheep dogs and the farmer Hoggett who eventually becomes a sheep herder himself. At the beginning of the film we first meet Babe in a pig farm where the pigs are shipped to meat factories.…
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Earthlings. Dir. Shaun Monson. Nation Earth. 2005.
Fig. 1 The original release poster for Earthlings, the film’s oft repeated challenge to the viewer to ‘make the connection’ features prominently alongside pictures of plants, animals and the evil emperor Commodus (representing humankind). ‘How do you know if someone is Vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you’. So proclaims an increasingly popular meme. Type preachy into…
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A Close Shave. Dir. Nick Park. BBC. 1995.
Following the great success of director Nick Park’s A Grand Day Out in 1990 and 1993’s The Wrong Trousers, eccentric inventor Wallace and his canine companion Gromit returned in 1995 with A Close Shave. The action begins as the duo – now running a window cleaning service – have their breakfast interrupted by Shaun the…
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Fantastic Mr. Fox. Dir. Wes Anderson. 20th Century Fox . 2009.
2009 saw Wes Anderson turn his unique eye for detail and style to stop motion animation, with his adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film has a distinct and consistent colour scheme of warm oranges and browns, changing only to show the warehouses and homes of the evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.…