Life is the most spectacular show on earth.|Apr. 15, 2011|USA|122 Min.|PG-13
Genre: Drama;Romance
Description: The 2011 film “Water for Elephants” tells the compelling story of Jacob Jankowski, a young man whose life takes an unexpected turn during the Great Depression. After losing his parents in a tragic car accident and facing the foreclosure of his family home, Jacob, a veterinary medicine student, abandons his studies and jumps onto a passing circus train. There, he encounters Camel, a worker with the Benzini Bros. Circus, who helps him secure a job.
Jacob meets August, the circus’s ringmaster, who hires him to care for the animals after learning about his veterinary background. He also meets August’s wife, Marlena Rosenbluth, and warns her about their star show horse suffering from laminitis. Despite August’s orders to keep the horse performing, Jacob decides to euthanize it, earning August’s anger. However, August later thanks Jacob for potentially saving Marlena from injury.
August acquires Rosie, an Asian elephant, and assigns Jacob to train her. A dinner with August and Marlena reveals August’s possessive nature. After August passes out drunk, Jacob and Marlena share a close moment. Jacob struggles to train Rosie, and when she fails to follow commands, August violently beats her. After Rosie runs off during a show and nearly injures Marlena, August savagely punishes her. With the help of Marlena, Camel, and Walter, Jacob tends to Rosie’s wounds and discovers she responds to Polish commands. With this breakthrough, Rosie begins to perform beautifully, bringing a period of success to the circus.
The film explores themes of love, loyalty, and resilience against the backdrop of a struggling circus during a turbulent era.
Cast director: Francis Lawrence
Cast actor: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider, Jim Norton, Hal Holbrook, Donna W. Scott, Richard Brake, Stephen Monroe Taylor, Mark Povinelli
Original name: Water for Elephants