Animal Farm

A neglected farm's animals throw off their owner and claim the place for themselves, and for a while the dream of equality holds. Then the pigs consolidate, the rules start changing overnight, and the film settles into what it really is: a political fable with teeth, tracking how liberation curdles into a new kind of boot. The tagline promises a stand and a fight; what arrives is bleaker and more interesting, a study of how truth gets quietly rewritten by whoever holds the pen.

Best suited to viewers who like allegory that refuses to soften itself, anyone drawn to stories about propaganda, complicity and revolutions that eat their own. At ninety-five minutes it moves briskly, using the barnyard framing to make hard ideas land without lecturing. Do not expect a comforting animal story, because the charm of the setup is the trap. If you want something that leaves you arguing about power on the way to the kitchen, this is a sturdy, pointed watch.