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Water for Elephants:

The dangers and beauty of a circus life

Based on Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel of the same name Water for Elephants American romantic drama film directed by Francis Lawrence was released in 2011. It has the acting talents of stars Reese Witherspoon as Marlena Rosenbluth, Robert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski, and Christoph Waltz as August Rosenbluth.

Narrated mainly in flashbacks the film opens in present day, when the proprietor of a small travelling circus meets an elderly man who has apparently wandered away from his nursing home group, which attended the circus earlier that day. The conversation they develop reveals the elderly man had a career in the circus business. The elderly man is Jacob Jankowski

who had been present during one of the most infamous circus disasters of all time, which leads to the unraveling of a personal past and page off circus history.

Promising career

As a Cornell veterinary medicine student on the brink of a promising career, Jacob suffers the misfortune of losing his parents during his final examination, who are killed in a car crash. His father has left massive debts, and the bank was foreclosing on Jacob’s home. Despondent and believing that continuing with his education has no purpose he jumps onto a passing train becoming a store away.

Jacob discovers later that he jumped on the Benzini Brothers Circus train. He sees a beautiful woman, Marlena Rosenbluth, and meets August Rosenbluth, the circus owner, who is the head animal trainer, and Marlena’s husband.

Jacob reveals he studied veterinary science and has noticed a problem with the star horse in the show. August agrees to hire Jacob as a vet for the circus animals after Jacob tells August that the horse named Silver has laminitis, is in terrible pain and will soon be unable to walk, never mind perform.

August instructs Jacob to give a solution to Silver and keep him performing as long as possible.

But Jacob cannot bear to see Silver’s suffering and takes it upon himself to put Silver down. August is furious with Jacob’s decision to euthanise Silver against orders. To show Jacob who is boss, he threatens to throw him from the moving train - telling him that an animal’s suffering is nothing compared to a man’s, and that Jacob must carry out all of August’s future orders if he wants to keep his job.

Troubled relationship

What develops later is that August adds Rosie the elephant as Silver’s replacement. He is initially thrilled and invites Jacob to his car for dinner and cocktails with him and Marlena. Jacob who is attracted to Marlena watches uncomfortably as the married couple dance in front of him, but later in the evening becomes clear that their relationship is a troubled one.

In the weeks that pass by, August becomes frustrated when Rosie the elephant seems impossible to train. August is aggressive with Rosie, beating her when she fails to follow orders. After one such beating that August gave to Rosie when she ran away after fleeing from the event and dropping Marlena, Jacob realises that the elephant was trained in the Polish language and only inderstands Polish commands.

Rosie begins to perform above expectation when she is instructed in Polish and the circus enjoys a period of much success.

Working closely together to train Rosie, Jacob and Marlena find themselves falling in love.

When August discovers this, he cruelly taunts the two plotting a cold revenge. Upon learning August plans to throw Jacob from the train one night Marlena and Jacob run away together.

Hiding in a local hotel, they are discovered by August’s henchmen who drag Marlena away and severely assault Jacob.

Cruelty

On returning to the circus to find Marlena, Jacob comes to know that his friends Walter and Camel were thrown from the train and killed. What transpires is that several circus employees have become fed up with August’s murderous cruelty and unleash their revenge by unlocking all the animals’ cages while a jam-packed audience is enjoying the star attraction performance by Marlena and Rosie.

The chaos that breaks out is furious and Jacob attempts to find Marlena in the midst of it and August attacks him. When Marlena tries to stop August from beating Jacob, he turns his fury on her and attempts to choke her, while one of August’s henchmen continues beating Jacob. Two circus workers save Jacob just in time.

Lying on the ground, bloodied and beaten, he looks up and sees Rosie hit August on the back of the head with a metal pole, killing the autocratic and remorseless circus owner.

The movie ends with the elderly Jacob explaining what happened afterwards. He had returned to Cornell, completed his degree and become a qualified veterinarian. Taking several of the horses and Rosie Jacob and Marlena had got jobs with another circus outfit – Jacob as a vet and Marlena in performing with the animals. They had got married and had five children and kept Rosie until her death many years later.

Jacob then reveals that eventually, he took a job as a vet at the Albany Zoo and Marlena died peacefully in her bed at an old age. The final moments of the movie shows Jacob convincing his interlocutor to hire him in the ticket booth.

Although initially skeptical the circus owner agrees, and the delight of the development that has happened in his life moves Jacob to say that he has finally ‘come home’.

 

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