Watership Down (Film) Directed by Martin Rosen

Watership Down (Film)

Directed by Martin Rosen

Martin Rosen was born in New York City in 1936 but would move to the United Kingdom with his wife while working as a theater agent and talent scout. Watership Down was the 3rd movie he produced, the first being a Canadian work A Great Big Thing in 1968, the second was Women in Love in 1969. He wrote the script for Watership Down and produced it. He also directed Watership when the original director John Hubley died. He also wrote and produced the 1982 adaption of Richard Adam's work Plague Dogs. Mr. Rosen would also produce the film Smooth Talk and the Watership Down cartoon series. He has since retired from active life.

The film itself was rather successful and was nominated for Hugo awards in 1978. It did well in the Anglo nations, Scandinavia, and Germany; but was less successful in Spain, where there were still a number of supporters of Franco's regime and in Japan which also has a complicated history with it's militarist government. What's best know about Watership Down is the fact that many parents doing no research into the matter thought that any film with cartoon bunnies were perfectly fine for small children (hehehHAHAHA BWAHAHAHAHA!). This wasn't helped by the British system declaring this film perfectly fine for anyone over four (Gotta love those anglo-sphere rating systems that disproportionately penalize sex over violence and give you a discount if the murder is animated.). I got a nephew who’s about five and I certainly wouldn't show him this film so... Way to drop the ball there folks. Anyways, that got the film a reputation as the film that traumatized an entire generation with scenes of blood, guts and bunny murder galore but does it live up to that reputation? Does this movie hold up 40 or so years after it's creation? As always I will be issuing two grades here. First how the movie stands on its own as a work and second how it stands as an adaptation. So let's discuss.

The movie like the book tells the story of Hazel and Fiver, who in response to Fiver's vision of imminent doom of their home warren, led an Exodus away from it to an unseen but promised land where they will live free and safe (Oh you sweet summer children…). The warren is somewhat oppressive, as the military caste has turned to bullying and stealing choice bits of food from the civilians; but hasn't sunk into a totalitarian state. Many of the rabbits who join Hazel and Fiver do so less out of belief in Fiver's visions and more for an excuse to strike out from a society that forcibly keeps them on the bottom rungs with no route of advancement (I see some prescient social commentary here.). However, they have to flee through dangerous territory braving predator-ridden woods and dealing with unforeseen dangers to do so. The movie does not pull punches about how dangerous this trip is for the rabbits, as they have to deal with rats, dogs, owls, hawks and more. Nor is it a trip without loss, as not everyone makes it the promise land. The main conflict doesn't really get going until the 2nd half of the movie when they have found their promised land and proceed to build a new warren. This is of course the conflict with the totalitarian warren Erafa ruled by General Woundwort. If the original warren was becoming hidebound, Erafa has become a full blown dictatorship where officers do as they please and everyone suffers as they must. The story mostly focuses on Hazel and Big Wig, with Fiver as a major character but taking a back seat to them in terms of characterization and screen time. The movie excels at using visuals to tell the story and set the scene, along with using music to reinforce both. We see the reality of Erafa shown to us in a short sequence that tells us everything we really need to know about such a society and why some rabbits would want to flee a place where they are safe from all predators... Well safe from all predators except their fellow rabbits. The stark contrasts between Erafa and Hazel’s group isn’t crudely hammered into but make completely clear just by seeing the two groups in operations. That said very little time is spent on developing Watership Down itself, part of this is due to the run time of the movie which is about an hour and a half. I kinda feel even another fifteen minutes would have been helpful on that front. It's also bogged down a bit by it's age. For example the extremely stylized scenes where they reveal the fate of the characters birth warren and Fiver's vision that leads him to Hazel come across as completely 70s to me. Clarity is thrown by the wayside in favor of animation sequences that seem to assume you’re using some sort of chemical assistance while watching the film. The scene where they reveal that the warren had been destroyed was fairly nightmarish yes, but so heavily stylized that I wouldn't be entirely sure what I was seeing without the voice over. Additionally replacing Fiver’s vision quest to find Hazel when he’s wounded with a musical dance routine with the bunny grim reaper wasn’t a choice I could get behind either. I can't help but feel that a modern remake would likely do a better job getting those scenes across to the audience. That said the movie isn't bad, especially if you're going to use it as an example of it's time. Watership Down the film gets a C+ from me.

It's run time is however a massive chain around the film's neck in regards to being a good adaptation. Entire subplots are axed and characters banished to oblivion. Big Wig's moment of glory, his undercover mission to Errafa is cut down quite a bit in order to have room for the main battle. Fiver's part in that battle is nearly written out entirely! For that matter Fiver is increasingly shoved into the background as the film goes on, his visions and spirit quests are mostly written out of the movie, which is frankly a shame as they helped give the novel a mystical quality. Strangely enough some of Hazel's moments are undermined ever so slightly to make Big Wig look stronger (as if he needed the help!). With the exception of the prologue of the movie showing the Rabbit Creation Myth and Fall from Grace, all the El-ahrairah are cut right out of the movie. Which is entirely understandable as you only get 90 minutes to tell the whole story so the myths are expendable, but man I would really like to see them all done on screen. As they're a great show of how storytelling mythology works in a non-literate society. The rabbits are also made more human, which I feel was unnecessary. Having the rabbits be noticeable less human and more rabbit would have been an interesting touch. Although I can understand why a movie maker wouldn't want to take that risk. Honestly if I was doing these reviews in the 1990s or early 2000s, it would get a high grade but adaptations have markedly improved in recent years so the standards have slowly climbed upwards and onwards. As an adaptation I have to give it a C-. In earlier darker times I might have given it a B or more but thankfully we are past that.

Well that's all done. Next week, we begin Solarpunk month! Join me for The Windup Girl and after that the Waterknife! Keep reading!

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black is your reviewer, Garvin Anders