April 22, 2011
Water for Elephants is a 2011 American romantic drama film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Richard LaGravenese, based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Sara Gruen. The film stars Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, and Hal Holbrook.
The film was released in the United States on April 22, 2011. It received mixed reviews from film critics and grossed $117 million worldwide on a budget of $38 million.
Storyline
Circus owner Charlie O'Brien encounters an elderly man named Jacob Jankowski, who is separated from his nursing home group. Jacob reveals he once had a career in the circus business and was present during one of the most infamous circus disasters of all time.
In 1931, when Jacob is a 23-year-old veterinary medicine student taking his final exam at Cornell University, he learns that his parents were killed in a car accident. After the bank forecloses on the family home and in the midst of the Great Depression, he jumps onto a passing circus train.
Jacob meets Camel, an employee with the Benzini Bros., who agrees to help him obtain a job. He meets ringmaster August, who after learning of Jacob's veterinary background, hires him to care for the animals. Jacob meets August's wife, performer Marlena Rosenbluth, and informs her that their star show horse has laminitis.
August instructs Jacob to keep the horse performing as long as possible, but he takes it upon himself to euthanize it. A furious August threatens to throw him off the moving train to scare him into submission, but later expresses gratitude to Jacob for potentially saving Marlena from being injured by the sick horse. August soon procures Rosie, an Asian elephant, and assigns Jacob to train her. He invites Jacob to dinner with him and Marlena, where he observes August's possessive treatment of his wife. After August passes out from drunkenness, Jacob and Marlena share a dance and nearly kiss.
Jacob attempts but fails to train Rosie, and August beats her with a bullhook when she fails to follow orders. After the elephant runs off and nearly injures Marlena during a show, August savagely beats her. Jacob, with help from Marlena, Camel, and his roommate Walter, cleans her wounds and gives her buckets of whisky to numb her pain.
They unexpectedly discover that Rosie understands Polish commands. She begins to perform beautifully and the circus enjoys a short period of success.
Jacob and Marlena grow closer, and after escaping a prohibition raid at a restaurant, they kiss. Marlena expresses regret, while Jacob considers quitting but cannot bear to leave Rosie with August.
When August later observes their chemistry, he abuses Marlena and cruelly taunts them. She discovers that he plans to throw Jacob off the train, so they run away together, hiding in a local hotel. They have sex but are ambushed by August's henchmen who drag Marlena away and beat up Jacob.
Jacob covertly returns to the circus train, finds Marlena, and nearly kills August with a knife while he sleeps. Marlena tells Jacob that Camel and Walter were thrown from the train and killed and that several circus employees have become fed up with August's murderous cruelty and betrayal.
The following day, they unlock all of the animal cages while an audience watches Marlena and Rosie's performance. Jacob attempts to find Marlena in the chaos, but August attacks him. Marlena tries to save Jacob from being beaten by August, causing the latter to turn his fury on her.
August strangles Marlena while Jacob fights with August's lead henchman. Two circus employees save Jacob, and Rosie hits August on the back of the head with an iron stake, killing him and rescuing Marlena. The Benzini Bros. circus is officially shut down, and no one is charged with releasing the animals. Back in the present, Jacob explains to O'Brien that he and Marlena took Rosie and got jobs with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He finished his degree and worked as a circus veterinarian while Marlena continued to perform with Rosie. They purchased a farm, married, had 5 children, and kept Rosie until her death.
Jacob took on a job as a vet at the Albany Zoo, and after many happy years together, Marlena died peacefully. Not wanting to return to the lonely nursing home, Jacob asks for a job with the circus as a ticket taker, and O'Brien agrees.