I'm housebound today so I watched Animal Farm for the first time in many years and discovered that I don't understand it at all.

I realize that it's a political statement, along the lines, one might say, of Lord of the Flies, but who is what and just what is the message? Man is a corrupt tyrant, OK. The animals are a citizenry that rise up against the ruling body. They then, in turn, also become lazy, self-indulgent, greedy and corrupt. What else?

The ending- that's the part that is so ambiguous that I don't grasp it at all. The new people driving up to the Farm? A new beginning? What's going on?

It's been years since the rebels went into hiding, but although they are old they are still alive. Why then is everybody at the Farm dead? There is that image of the dead pig in the mud- was everyone else so underfed and abused that they died? I can see why Napoleon died; he had become alcoholic, but what about the others?

As you can surmise, I'm such a literal-minded person that I have great difficulty with nuance and intimation. I'm sure this film (not to mention the book) has been discussed and dissected in schools everywhere. But I wasn't there.

Any thoughts on this? Anything to pass on to me to ease my mind?