GUV:Interview recording with Napoleon, who is a big boar. Previously of Manor Farm, then Animal Farm, back to Manor Farm. Napoleon. What’s your opinion of Willingdon Beauty, or as you know him, Old Major, the Middle White boar?
NAPOLEON: Hmm. Dead.
GUV:I’m aware of the facts, thanks.
NAPOLEON:Who serves the drinks in this place? I’ll have a whiskey.
GUV:I ask the questions round here.
PC GREEN:Interview with Boxer the Cart Horse, age 12, formerly of Animal Farm.
PC Green sneezes.
Apologies, allergic to horses.
BOXER:Sorry, I apologise.
PC BENNETT:Interview with Squealer, a big pig, and manager at Manor Farm.
SQUEALER: What’s that?
PC BENNETT:Oh it’s just the window cleaner, he’s on a gantry, you know, comes down from the 10th floor, you gotta have a head for heights on that, I tell you. Anyway, leave him to it…
SQUEALER:I heard you’re the best cop around.
PC BENNETT:Oh, really? Well. Maybe.
Shane sits across the interview table from Snowball. Shane presses record.
SHANE:Interview with Snowball, Pig, formally from Animal Farm, now living/where do you live?
SNOWBALL:That’s for me to know and you to not know. If Napoleon even knew I was here, he’d have me slaughtered.
SHANE:(nervous) Ok…
GUV:Something wrong?
NAPOLEON:Thought I could smell Snowball.
PC BENNETT:(reading from notes)
So, would you like a glass of milk?
SQUEALER:Oh how kind of you to ask.
PC BENNETT:Hang on, I didn’t write that.
I am now showing Squealer exhibit A.
Did you, or did you not manipulate the sheep to drown out any opinion different to Napoleon’s with regards to the running of the farm?
SQUEALER:Animalism is brilliant.
PC BENNETT:Just answer the question.
SQUEALER:I am. It's the best way of making everything fair for everyone - we're all equal don’t you know? (wink)
Nobody can tell anyone what to do… (wink)
…we all have the same rights and responsibilities, it’s just some of us have to get our hands a teeny bit dirtier than others in order to protect our society as a whole…
GUV:Your “comrades” seemed to think Major was, and I quote “so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour’s sleep in order to hear what he had to say.” Do you think that they respected you in the same way?
NAPOLEON:They did as I said, so they must’ve.
GUV:Do you think that might be because they were terrified you’d set your army of vicious dogs on them?
NAPOLEON:Not my fault they’re too stupid to build their own protection army.
GUV:They wanted lives of equality, like the ideas Old Major put forward.
NAPOLEON:Major was a dreamer. The farm’s making more money than ever before. If the animals are unhappy, they never said anything to me.
PC GREEN:You are massive. How big exactly?
BOXER:Nearly 18 hands. I used to be very strong.
PC GREEN:Yes, that’s how you killed the stable hand in the battle of the cowshed?
BOXER:I had no intention of taking a life, not even a human one. I always took care not to place my hooves on small animals in the hay.
PC GREEN:Yeah, Orwell mentioned that. (SNEEZE) Sorry.
When Snowball and Napoleon argued, how did you know who to listen to and who to respect?
BOXER:We always found ourselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at that moment.
PC GREEN:But not everyone agreed did they?
BOXER: (sad at pic) Dear Old Benjamin.
SHANE:You have been compared to Leon Trotsky, who was of course…
SNOWBALL:…one of the leading figures in the Russian Revolution. I read. A lot.
SHANE:So how come you didn’t notice Napoleon’s rise to power?
SNOWBALL:Perhaps because I was so enthralled on my books on electrical power - I had big dreams of a fully functioning windmill that would take some of the physically challenging work off the animals hooves.
GUV:Your role at Animal Farm has been likened to Stalin’s role in theRussian Revolution. Any idea why?
NAPOLEON:Some call me a tyrant. Others a dictator. I prefer ‘inspirational leader’, you see, I brought wealth to the farm, that’s what matters.
GUV:It was only you who saw the wealth.
NAPOLEON:(goading Guv) I rather liked Stalin.
GUV:I take it you don’t mind that during his Soviet dictatorship tens of millions of people were killed?
NAPOLEON:You don’t become a world feared dictator by sparing lives willy-nilly. Just look at Snowball.
PC GREEN:Oh can I take some of these sugar cubes for Boxer?
GUV:Sure, yeah, yeah, I’ve got him shifting the furniture around in my office.
Tell you what, Green, get back here. You’ve been good today. Have one for yourself. Come on, in you come. Good girl.
PC GREEN:Thanks
GUV:Good girl.
Don’t even think about it Bennett
PC BENNETT:Oh yeah.
Some of the key characters in Animal Farm by George Orwell are explored through police interview-style dramatisation.
The four characters of Napoleon, Boxer, Squealer and Snowball are interviewed separately by police officers and respond to questions designed to explore their respective motivations and perspectives.
This is from the series: LIT P.D
Teacher Notes
Could be used as part of an exploration of character and theme, either after an initial reading or as part of a revision activity.
Students could use this clip as the stimulus for their own presentation on a different character from the novel, or as the basis for an essay-style response to one of the characters explored in this clip.
Curriculum Notes
This short film is suitable for teaching English literature at GCSE in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 5 and Higher in Scotland.
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