“Chicken Run”
Socialist Movie Nights at Lake Merritt, presented by the Party for Socialism & Liberation
Pine Knoll Park
Lakeshore and Hanover Avenues, Oakland
October 4, 2025
It was a clear, cool autumn evening this past weekend when I showed up at Pine Knoll Park, ready to re-watch the delightful 2000 Claymation film “Chicken Run.” And I was even more ready and curious to hear what the movie night’s hosts, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, had to say about this kids’ movie that’s not only fun and funny, but also centered on an organized community in resistance to destructive forces of despotic greed.
At least 50 people, many with small children, lounged on blankets or in lawn chairs in front of a small pull-down screen set-up on the grass. Friendly and welcoming PSL volunteers staffed a table with books, posters, pamphlets, and flyers, as well as some snacks for sale and free water bottles. A raffle sign-up sheet offered the chance at one of the four prizes: cute little chickens crocheted by a volunteer named Jessie.
With a convicted felon now in his second term as president and his ghoulish administration casually chipping away at Americans’ civil rights, it was heartening to see twenty- and thirty-somethings in resistance against unchecked avarice and the appalling injustices being perpetrated against our country’s populace. I found it inspiring to see these young people engaged and motivated to make change for social justice.
The young volunteers and their table of publications took me back to my high school days when I would take a bus into San Francisco to hear talks by members of the Socialist Labor Party. A few friends and I had put together a four-page xeroxed quarterly distributed free to fellow students, “The Oppressed Reformer” (go ahead and roll your eyes, I was only 16-17), that I edited: a publication that criticized various school policies and provided news on punk music shows. Despite the support of a few teachers, our quarterly got me in perpetual trouble with the vice principal, eventually leading to a school district meeting where it was decided that the First Amendment did not apply on campus—a clear violation of our protected constitutional right to free speech. (I kept publishing anyway; regularly punished with endless after school detentions).
It was good to see young people who are politically active rather than apathetic.
PSL introduction to "Chicken Run."
Just prior to the film, a PSL volunteer introduced their party as “an organization committed to justice and uplifting everyday people.” The audience was then encouraged to take a moment to introduce themselves to their neighbor. I chatted with a fellow named Philip who’d just moved to Oakland from Houston, Texas, three months ago. I wanted to ask him what brought him to the Bay Area, and to the movie in the park, but the film was about to start.
If you’ve never seen “Chicken Run,” directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park of “Wallace & Gromit” fame, the story follows the lives of a flock of chickens at the Tweedy Egg Farm in Yorkshire, England. Their dreary, unhappy existences are spent in a chicken yard whose huts and surrounding environs resemble a World War II P.O.W. camp, guarded by two snarling dogs. (Clever and funny references to prisoner of war films “Stalag 17,” 1953, and “The Great Escape,” 1963, abound.) The penalty for no longer being able to lay eggs: being killed and roasted to be eaten by Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy, he a dimwit and she a cruel despot. Lead chicken Ginger (voiced by Julia Sawalha) is determined to free the flock, devising one plan after another to escape, all of which fail. With the unexpected arrival of American rooster Rocky Rhodes (Mel Gibson), and the Tweedy’s construction of a chicken pie machine meant to increase the farm’s profits, a grand escape plan is hatched so that everyone can be spared from being made into a meaty pastry.
Literature (L) and Posters for sale (R) at the PSL table.
The evening wasn’t frigid, but I was cold throughout. The damp grass and Lake Merritt (not a true lake, but a tidal lagoon that connects to the bay,) kept temps uncomfortably chilly. Thankfully, “Chicken Run” was superb and holds up even after 25 years, and the discussion afterwards was interesting if not super engaging (rather Marxism 101, perhaps because there were so many children in attendance).
“Imagination is an extremely powerful tool,” said PSL volunteer Jesús, who led the talk. “It’s so crucial in this day and age to fight for change.” As someone who was taught the Jesuit practice of Ignatian contemplation—imaginative prayer—I appreciated Jesús’s perspective on the importance of imagination. “Ginger was able to imagine a world where the chickens fight back,” he said. “They came together and fought for a better life.” Prompting questions followed: “Why did Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy switch from just eggs to making pies?” “What did the pie machine represent?”, with folks shouting out their responses until it was time for the raffle.
By then I was freezing and wanted to go home to warm up and eat, but I also wanted a crocheted chicken. Sadly, I didn’t win one (though if I had I’d have given it to a kid anyway). It was good to see a charming film outdoors in a forum that directly addressed the movie’s message of class struggle and organized resistance.
In the words of Ginger: “We'll either die free chickens or we die trying!”
The next Socialist Movie Night at Lake Merritt is this Saturday, October 11th, at 6:30 p.m., featuring the stop motion animated film “The Wanted 18”.
