WATER FOR ELEPHANTS

Water for Elephants is a 2011 American romantic drama film based on Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Francis Lawrence and stars Christoph Waltz, Robert Pattinson and Reese Withwerspoon.

The film starts in the present day with an old man reminiscing his youth as a circus worker. And most of the film then takes in a flashback to the Great Depression era. Twenty three year-old Polish American student of Cornell’s veterinary medicine, Jacob unfortunately hears the news of his parents’ death in a car crash right during the final exam of the university. With a huge depth left after their parents, Jacob feels there’s no point in continuing to study further. He jumps on a passing train and the next morning he realizes he discovers that he jumped on Benzini Brothers Circus train. He meets the circus owner August, who is also the head animal trainer, and his beautiful wife Marlena Rosenbluth- the solo star of the circus. August hires Jacob as a circus vet after Jacob diagnoses the star horse Silver by laminitis, disease that affects the hooved animals’ feet. August is rough with people and animals, and his training method basically consists of beating them. He brutally beats the elephant Rosie, Silver’s replacement, when she fails to follow the orders. Jacob finds out that Rosie was trained in Polish and only understands polish commands. While working closely together to train Rosie, Jacob and Marlena fall in love with each other. However later August finds out. August together with his men beat Jacob and in Marlena’s attempt to help Jacob, August tries to choke her. Lying on the ground bloodied and beaten, Jacob looks up and sees Rosie hit August on the back and kills him. Back in the present Jacob explains what happened afterward: he returned to Cornell, took his last exam and finished his degree. He and Marlena took several of the horses and Rosie and got jobs with Ringling Brothers. They married and had five children and kept Rosie until her death.

I loved the movie. Check out the trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0DbfQaentM

 Source: 

http://waterforelephantsfilm.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_for_Elephants