Water For Elephants

Water for Elephants was conceived from a cinematographic point of view with one goal: to be the latest hit in the romance genre. Producers sought to follow in the footstepsof John Cassavetes’ Noah’s Diary orLasse Hallström’s Cider House Rules . He certainly did not succeed, but this does not detract from an interesting story that is based on the solvency of the good novel on which it was based.

In this film we find Robert Pattinson as the main claim. Emerging at that point from his success in the Twilight saga, he appropriately embodied Jacob, a young man studying to be a veterinarian at Cornell University during the Great Depression. After sad news, his life makes a 180º change. 

Without money, without family or prospects, he gives way to a new stage in his existence, when he enters the train of a traveling circus. Almost without knowing how, Jacob becomes someone essential for a very special creature: an elephant named Rosie.   This immense, beautiful and sensitive animal, in turn, comes to symbolize the collective and abused soul of the company of which it is a part.

Water for elephants, a story told from memory

Our main character, Jacob, has a settled life or so he thinks, when suddenly everything that supported him collapses and he has to start over. To do this, he takes a train, a train of the many that pass in our lives. Those that to achieve them, without a doubt requires the impulse of resolution and courage.

On that train and on that trip he learns what love is, what madness is, what anger is and also fear. It is a jump without a parachute into a world that he knows nothing about, but which he seems destined for and which he will love. Because sometimes, fate pushes us from adversity, to lead us later on a path where little by little what will be our authentic life is shaping. The one that deserves to be lived with passion and intensity.

Water for elephants is narrated from memory, from the prism where one is proud of what he has lived, because there is no better learning than to look back to understand that everything experienced has been worth it. It is the water, or rather knowing what water an elephant needs, it is the one that ends up saving her destiny; the same fate that was put in check when at the beginning of the film his world fell apart.

This movie, directed by, has wonderful and spectacular moments. Highlights, for example, the role of Christoph Waltz as August, owner of the circus and the jealous husband of Marlena. Thus, one of the lessons we can stay with is the one where we understand that the patience and effort that we dedicate to the people around us will always give us the best of them. 

A movie full of tough moments

Water for Elephants is a film that offers us what it promises from the beginning, without deception. It takes us into the Great Depression in all its rawness. He does not hide the need, despite the fact that at times the typecasting of the characters prevents us from identifying with them. Perhaps this is its weakest point, there is no weakness in the souls that it shows us and the story does not stop being a story for a moment. Beautiful, but a tale.

As for the characters, highlight the effort made by the scriptwriters to give coherence to the evil circus director (Christoph Watz). Their circumstances make us understand their behavior, that we believe their evil because it has its meaning and reason, although obviously we do not share it. 

It should also be noted the technical section, where the best is photography, simply great. A mat on which practically anything looks good. It is fundamental in the film, since it really manages to introduce us to a real circus, with the needs and concerns of the time.

Likewise, we are entering a time when the circus was for adults and not children, a time when older people were looking for fascination and a glimpse of hope under a tent. If only for that air of nostalgia, our ancestors or when we were children, the film deserves our interest and attention.

However, if we are left wanting to delve a little deeper into this delicious story, we can always dive into the original story. The novel written by Sara Gruen in 2005 is a delight, a fable about an era of American culture that is always worth discovering.