In a darkened corral, a small pig is separated from its litter to become part of the attractions at a livestock fair. At the same time, her mother leaves the enclosure along with dozens of other pigs, ready to be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse. This is how it begins Babe, the brave little piga 1995 film that Universal Pictures He refused to promote it because he considered it “too dark” for children.
The production company had already spent $30 million in the three years it took to film it, and they did it just because it was an original idea. George Millerthe creator of the lucrative saga Mad Max. Furthermore, the premiere crossed paths with Apollo 13his favorite film to satisfy critics this Oscar season.
Therefore, when Universal asked a small group of journalists to see “a film about a pig,” they did not predict the emotional response they received, much less did they imagine that the next day the newspapers would publish effusive praise for the simple hour and a half feature film. . That same year, the film grossed $254 million in theaters worldwide and received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
The reason for success? “Babe It really wasn’t for kids. They were parables for adults that children happened to like,” as the main actor said. James Cromwell to The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
At first glance, the plot is about an adorable pig who arrives at a farm because the owner, Arthur Hoggett, won him in a bet. For the next few weeks, the pig is fed by the farmer’s cheerful wife, who plans to make him Christmas dinner. Babe, unaware of his destiny, aspires to become a sheep herder, and will have to endure the ridicule of the other animals, and the contempt of the sheepdog, to prove that he can fulfill his goal.
Predictably, the harmless story could be pigeonholed in the cheesy but effective films that repeat the worn-out message: “Fight for your dream!” Instead, Babe is a critique, in pure Orwellian style, of social hierarchies, oppressive power and status quo.
The shepherd dog Fly is explicit when mentioning that “sheep are stupid” and that the best way to control them is to dominate them, biting them if necessary. While the house cat bluntly tells Babe that while she is there to be “beautiful and loving,” he is good for nothing more than being a ham or bacon.
Under the premise “humans only eat stupid animals like ducks, sheep and pigs”, the farm functions as a microcosm of society, in which each animal is confined to roles that determine its value and function. Babe challenges his marginal position to question this rigidity. His dream is not to be a “sheepdog,” but to dismantle the idea of what he can and should do, of what his identity is. Furthermore, he questions the power exercised by domination or force, versus leadership by empathy, cooperation and consensus.
“George Miller wanted animals to relate to each other as if they were human beings.. Real animals look straight ahead when they walk; but we have peripheral vision, that’s why [en la ficción] They look at each other. And that little difference between the way George conceived the film was one of the things that made it unique,” Cromwell explained to THR.
The work was not easy. It took 59 people to train the 500 animal actors that were part of the cast. To play the four-legged protagonist, 48 Large White Yorkshire pigs were required, as the breed was growing rapidly. The magic was enhanced with animatronic creations from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, and a slight help from CGI to achieve the mouth movement.
On the other side, James Cromwell, then 55, was a little-known American actor who caught Miller’s attention for his taciturn and kind demeanor. “I was on the verge of saying no,” Cromwell confessed to Forbesand the reason was because he considered that this was a “minor” job in which he was offered only USD 50 thousand dollars [USD 100 mil dólares de 2024] and that he had no room to negotiate.
He was completely unaware of the possibilities of CGI and thought the project would turn out to be insignificant. Furthermore, since his role only had 16 lines of dialogue, he thought his efforts would be in vain. “During filming, and when I read the script for the first time, I did not imagine its subsequent impact,” he said.
Finally, a friend ended up convincing him to accept the role by pointing out that, although he was not enthusiastic about the production, it would give him the opportunity to travel for free to Australia, where filming would take place. “And if the movie is a failure, it won’t be your responsibility, but the pig’s.“, I assure.
During the time of filming, Cromwell enjoyed the “humanity, heart and sweetness” with which the director worked. Chris Noonan. His time with the animals was also “extraordinary” because of how well trained they were. However, he was horrified that Australians “liked to kill everything that moves and eat it.”
“And so, On the lunch table would be all the animals he had just worked with.. There was duck and there was lamb. I thought, ‘Oh man, this is really horrible,’” she recalled to THR. That was the moment when the actor chose to become vegan, a decision he maintains to this day, actively participating in protests and being arrested and convicted more times than he can remember.
George Miller, for his part, managed to release a sequel in 1998 titled Babe: the little pig goes to townwhich true to its original vision, was even cruder and touched on themes of animal exploitation, rampant consumerism, and exacerbated individualism in modern capitalist societies.
“In the first cut, when they go to the hospital, an experimentation laboratory is shown. There are animals with stakes drilled into their skulls and sores, cancers. “My God,” recalled Cromwell, who witnessed the first screening. The film also included an extensive scene of a drowning animatronic dog that pretended to be real.
Scandalized, Universal directors forced Miller to cut the footage, and once again refused to promote it, affecting its performance at the box office, where it was considered a failure for failing to raise enough to recover the investment. Although it affected its performance, this sequel is still worth watching, and manages to be just as valuable as its idyllic first part.
Babe, the brave little pig has just been included in the catalog of Netflix.
