Review of film: “WATER FOR ELEPHANTS”

2011, 05-10:

Review of film:  “WATER FOR ELEPHANTS”

Some lives are a “circus”;  others are lived IN a circus...  This movie combines BOTH situations, using the tagline “Life is the most spectacular show on earth.”...

...  The story starts out with an old man standing in the rain outside of a modern-day circus...  The guy eventually talks to the owner of the place, & tells how his name is Jacob Jankowski (HAL HOLBROOK) & he’d like a JOB there, since his kids don’t help take care of him.  Via flashbacks, he tells the STORY of his previous circus-related life:

...  It’s the early 1930’S, DEPRESSION time in the U.S....  Young Jacob (ROBERT PATTINSON) happily lives with his Polish immigrant parents out east...  He’s about to take his final test at Cornell to get his license in VETERINARY medicine...

...  But, he’s called out of class & told his parents have just been KILLED in a car crash...  He never takes the required test, is left with nothing to live on (& no place he can readily stay), and decides to leave the area by hopping on a RAIL car...

...  By chance, the train he gets on is a private one belonging to the Benzini Brothers Circus which travels around the country performing for the public...  The owner of it is a rich but violence-prone man named August (I think the last name was like Rosenbluth;  he’s played by CHRISTOPHE WALTZ)...

...  For illegally jumping on the train and eating some of the food belonging to the circus people, Christophe wants to have him literally thrown off the moving vehicle...  But, when he learns that Robert is supposedly a VETERINARIAN, he decides to keep him on to help with their ANIMALS, & Robert boards in a rail car with a dwarf named Kinko / Walter (MARK POVINELLI)...

...  Christophe’s pretty wife Marlena (REESE WITHERSPOON) is the star attraction at the run-down circus...

...  Reese does an act where she works with HORSES she’s trained...  But Robert points out a major medical problem with one of her animals (a fact which Christophe doesn’t “want” to hear or accept)...

...  Since times are tough, it’s hard to get paying audiences for the circus, & thus there are growing MONEY problems...  Christophe is always looking for a “CHEAP” way to do things, & that includes purposely not paying a bunch of his workers & at times having his “goons” literally throw them OFF the train to avoid “dealing” with them (which he feels he can get “away” with since most are itinerants)...

...  As time goes on, Robert & Reese start to get “attracted” to each other, to the deep displeasure of ever-jealous Christophe (who frequently treats Reese with indifference & elements of brutality)...

...  Hoping to draw more customers, Christophe works to buy an Indian ELEPHANT from another failed circus.  Since Robert is their “menagerie” man, he’s given the job of CARING for the animal (tho he’s never handled such a creature before)...

...  While Robert tries to manage the elephant with kindness, Christophe believes in treating it with violence, demanding that Robert use a “bull hook” to prod the animal to do things like move forward (which causes bleeding sores on the hapless creature)... 

...  Altho she’s afraid to really “speak-up” to her husband, REESE also would prefer that the elephant (which she’s to ride in the show) be treated kindly.  That (& “other” things) keep drawing her & Robert “CLOSER” to each other (to the growing disgust and anger of Christophe)...

...  Before it was bought, the elephant “Roxie” had been in control of a BRITISH man as its “Caretaker”.  It had never been known to Christophe or Robert that Roxie could do any real “tricks” at all, & had been purchased simply because it was “exotic” & could be a “draw” simply by having Reese travel on TOP of it (which Robert works on with her)...

...  At one point after it was acquired, Robert chances to speak some Polish in front of Roxie-- & is extremely surprised to learn that the animal “responds” by doing “TRICKS” (like raising its legs, etc.) when hearing certain specific words!... 

(...  It’s never explained HOW or “why” the creature only responds to POLISH commands.  Robert himself had never tried to TEACH it any specific tricks, much less using Polish.  And it’s odd that that’s the only thing the elephant “responds” to, since a young ENGLISHMAN had been in control of it before it was bought, & it’s unlikely that POLISH {of all languages} would’ve been used to “train” an elephant...)

...  Anyway, despite that huge plot “HOLE”, Robert keeps using POLISH commands to have Roxie do various stunts (including standing up & sitting down).  And, rather than himself saying the “required” Polish words to Roxie in performances in front of crowds, he instead is told to teach the Polish commands to CHRISTOPHE, who, as the circus’ “Ringmaster”, thus manages the animal in front of audiences...

(...  I know Christophe’s character likes to be in “CONTROL” of everything...  But, normally, a ringmaster wouldn’t do what a “hired” performer would normally be expected to carry out, especially since speaking a foreign language during a show takes the “high-faluting” Ringmaster “out” of his normal “Barker” activities--  another “anomaly” & plot “CRUTCH”, I guess)...

...  Anyway, the elephant starts to become a big “DRAW” for the circus, making Christophe even wealthier...  But, he doesn’t want to share the “improvement” with his WORKERS, many of whom he hasn’t PAID properly during the “hard times” (to the increasing DISPLEASURE of many of his employees)...

...  Will the unpaid & disrespected employees “REBEL” at their treatment by Christophe?...  Will REESE revolt at her treatment by him?...  Will Christophe’s jealousy cause more problems for ROBERT?...  What “telegraphed” difficulties will befall the CIRCUS itself?...

...  The movie engenders a well-done “MOOD” of the hard Depression-era times and the world of CIRCUS performers during such a period...  The ACTING is good (especially considering the sort of “extreme” situations built-up in the plot)...

...  There are a number of “hard-to-accept” PLOT difficulties that tend to weaken the story somewhat...  But, while it’s not “special”, I found it an INTERESTING & generally enjoyable tale, & thus I’m rating it at 7.25 out of 10 stars...

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