Watership Down (film)
| Watership Down | |
|---|---|
 Poster for Watership Down | |
| Directed by | Martin Rosen |
| Written by | Original novel: Richard Adams Screenplay: Martin Rosen |
| Produced by | Martin Rosen |
| Starring | John Hurt (voice) Richard Briers (voice) Michael Graham Cox (voice) Simon Cadell (voice) Harry Andrews (voice) |
| Edited by | Terry Rawlings |
| Music by | Mike Batt (song "Bright Eyes") (sung by) Art Garfunkel Angela Morley Malcolm Williamson (incidental music) |
| Distributed by | AVCO Embassy Pictures |
Release dates | October 19, 1978 (UK) November 1, 1978 (US) |
Running time | 93 min |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
Watership Down is an animated film directed by Martin Rosen and based on the book Watership Down by Richard Adams. It was released in October 1978 and was largely financed by Jake Eberts' company, Goldcrest Films. After a slow start upon release, it became the sixth most popular film of 1979 at the British box office.[1]
The film featured the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film appearance of Zero Mostel as the voice of Kehaar, the gull.
Art Garfunkel's British No.1 hit, "Bright Eyes", was also featured, although in a different arrangement from the version released as a record. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson.
Synopsis
The movie begins with a prologue (animated in an abstract style of Inuit art by John Canemaker), explaining the creation of the world as seen by rabbits: All animals were created the same by the sun god, "Lord Frith," and ate grass. The rabbit prince El-ahrairah's kind multiplied beyond control, dismaying the other animals, so Frith offered an ultimatum: "Find ways to control your people, or I shall find ways to control them." El-ahrairah boasted that his people were the strongest in the world, that they couldn't be stopped. An angered Frith then granted gifts to the other animals, such as the dog, cat, fox, hawk and weasel, including a "fierce desire to hunt and slay" rabbits. Seeing the Black Rabbit of Inle (a lapine version of the Grim Reaper), a frightened El-ahrairah dug underground to escape Frith's wrath. Frith approached him and asked, "Have you seen El-ahrairah? I have a gift for him" as well; El-ahrairah feigned ignorance, so Frith knowingly offered his gift to the burrowing stranger "instead." To avoid revealing his identity, El-ahrairah refused to stop burrowing and was blessed on the behind: His tail turned shining white, his legs, ears and feet lengthened, and he tore across the country faster than anything yet created. He became a rabbit:
All the world will be your enemy, Prince With a Thousand Enemies. And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you—digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.
The main story's setting is the English countryside near a railway which crosses over a bridge. Fiver, a weak and nervous runt rabbit, and his brother Hazel live together in the shelter of the Sandleford Warren. Fiver has a sixth sense: He can see the future. While Fiver and Hazel are outside, Fiver has a horrible vision of Sandleford being destroyed. At first doubtful, Hazel comes to believe Fiver and they decide to tell Threarah, the Warren's elderly Chief Rabbit. Guarding the entrance is Bigwig, an unusually large rabbit and a member of Sandleford's Owsla (the "military" of a rabbit warren), who is promptly ordered to send the two away by Holly, the captain of the warren's Owsla; Hazel convinces Bigwig to let them pass ("When have I ever asked to see the Chief Rabbit before?"). Upon hearing of Fiver's vision, Threarah is patronisingly sceptical and dismisses them abruptly; he then scolds Bigwig for not following Holly's orders.
Later that night, Fiver, Hazel and at least 20 other rabbits that have heard about the pair's plan, all leave the warren. After the Owsla catches many of them, the lineup of escapees is limited to 8 rabbits:
- Hazel,
- Fiver,
- Dandelion (a storyteller and a friend of Hazel),
- Pipkin (a runt like Fiver, only smaller and plumper),
- Blackberry (a large, quiet rabbit who is an intelligent problem solver),
- Silver (Threarah's nephew),
- Violet (a doe) and
- Bigwig, who has left the Owsla to join them.
They are then confronted by Captain Holly; a fight threatens between Hazel and Holly, but Bigwig breaks it up before it starts. Holly flees back into the warren and the rabbits move on through a threatening forest.
The rabbits soon come to a shore. They cannot swim across it and, to make matters worse, a nearby collie sees the rabbits. The group thinks quick and, thanks to Blackberry, find a wooden plank to carry them across the water. After travelling across a road, the group decides to rest in an overgrown enclosure near a field. While the other rabbits sleep, Violet wakes up and finds food. As she eats, a nearby hawk swoops down, picks her up and carries her away, shortening the lineup to 7 rabbits.
After escaping from a rat-infested shed in a cemetery, the group encounters Cowslip. Cowslip is a sleazy, gentleman-like rabbit who appears kind and lets the group stay in his warren. Although the rabbits are completely oblivious to the fact that Cowslip is hiding something, Fiver is suspicious: "We should have nothing to do with that Catholic." He decides to exit the warren and hides under a tree in the next field, telling Hazel this is not their ultimate destination. Bigwig runs up in anger to argue with him and, after storming off in a huff, is caught in a snare. Fiver runs for help and fetches the rest of the Sandleford travellers (Cowslip refusing to join); he and Pipkin chew through the peg, which slackens the wire. Bigwig is freed from the snare, but apparently dead. He is given a short eulogy by the group: "My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped running today." Fiver then scolds them for settling so easily for a trap-infested life—when Bigwig interrupts swearing vengeance on Cowslip. He nearly collapses again, so joins the group when they decide to move on.
The rabbits discover Nuthanger Farm, where they rest under a wagon. Hazel wakes up Pipkin and they explore the farm, where they encounter a hutch with white domestic rabbits in the barn. He offers to rescue them, but is met with mostly bewilderment. Pipkin warns Hazel that the farm's cat, Tabs, has just caught sight of them, so Hazel quickly says his goodbye to the farm rabbits. Outside, Hazel openly taunts Tabs: "Can you run? … I think not"; this distracts her enough for the pair to avoid her pounce and escape.
While travelling through the undergrowth, the rabbits hear strange moans, calling for "Bigwig!" Convinced he is being summoned by the Black Rabbit of Death, he intends to succumb to the groan when out of the shadows steps a wounded, pale grey rabbit: Captain Holly from the Sandleford Warren. He tells the rabbits of the destruction of the warren and the horror he miraculously survived. He then mentions a warren he found called Efrafa but he collapses before he can say any more.
At last, after much searching, Fiver finds his hill: Watership Down. The rabbits eagerly ascend the steep climb to miraculously discover an empty warren under a beech hanger that they can live in:
- Dandelion: O Frith on the hills, he made it all for us!
- Hazel: Frith may have made it, but Fiver found it.
After a day or two, Bigwig discovers a wounded seagull named Kehaar. Kehaar has a broken wing and cannot fly, a result from a run-in with Tabs. His wounded wing has forced him to take refuge on Watership Down and co-exist with the rabbits. Meanwhile, Hazel realizes they have no female rabbits, or does, since Violet was killed by the hawk, and therefore cannot have kittens. Kehaar is good-naturedly tricked into offering to help the rabbits find mates—help he has long intended to give, to repay Bigwig for helping him find food. After some uncertainty about the health of his mending wing, Kehaar does soar into the sky, and the rabbits wait for him to return when he finds mates.
A week passes by and Kehaar has not returned. Thinking that Kehaar has deserted them, Hazel, Dandelion and Blackberry go to Nuthanger Farm to rescue the hutch rabbits they met earlier. While the group tries to set the hutch rabbits free, two farmers hear strange noises coming from the barn; the dog awakes and begins to bark. The men enter the barn, one armed with a shotgun; as they shine a torch around the barn, the domestic rabbits keep still while the three frightened wild rabbits make a break for the fields. A farmer fires one shot from his gun, piercing Hazel on his right thigh, and he collapses into a pile of nettles; his friends watch in shock as the farmers debate whether or not Hazel was shot. Blackberry and Dandelion return to Watership with the news; Fiver, however, is not convinced that Hazel is dead. Another abstract scene, animated to the song "Bright Eyes," portrays the Black Rabbit leading Fiver to Hazel, wounded but still alive in a hidden pipe.
The next morning, Kehaar returns to Watership Down. Fiver leads him to Hazel, from whose wounded leg Kehaar removes shotgun pellets with his beak. Hazel asks Kehaar what he found; he reports that he found no mates, but discovered Efrafa. Holly then resumes telling the rabbits about Efrafa: It is a strict, militarized warren—nearly fascist in its paranoid protection of the state and in its crushing of civil liberties of its citizens—located about a mile or so from Watership Down. He was himself captured and barely escaped, and only with the help of two Efrafans and a fortunate encounter with a passing train running over his pursuers. He begs avoiding it all together; Hazel, however, feels they have no choice but to engage Efrafa.
On their ensuing reconaissance, the group encounters a fox. Impulsively, Bigwig leads it to a brush and inadvertently into a member of an Efrafan patrol, which it kills. From the sky, Kehaar warns of more on the way; again impulsively, Bigwig volunteers to stay, infiltrate Efrafa and get does to escape to Watership with him. Bigwig is "captured" by Efrafan scouts assaulting an escapee and is brought to their warren. He meets the Chief Rabbit of Efrafa, the brutish General Woundwort, and persuades the wary General into first joining Efrafa and then, impressed with Bigwig's size, Efrafa's Owsla. Meanwhile, while planning an escape route, Hazel, Blackberry, and Kehaar discover a tethered boat along the river, which reminds them of the plank they used to float to Watership Down.
In time, Bigwig meets Hyzenthlay and Blackavar, the two rabbits that helped Holly escape: Hyzenthlay is a very rebellious doe under intense watch by the Owsla. Blackavar has tried to escape Efrafa regularly to the point where he has had his ears chewed off, an example of what punishment awaits an escapee. He gradually talks Hyzenthlay into following him to Watership Down, along with several other does. He then surreptitiously meets Kehaar to finalize the escape plan. Later, Woundwort questions Bigwig about meeting Kehaar and leading the fox into a patrol; Bigwig feigns innocence. To test his loyalty, Woundwort orders Bigwig to follow a patrol set out to capture the Watership rabbits, ordering a captain to tail him.
At sunset, with a storm brewing, Bigwig, Blackavar, Hyzenthlay and a few other does manage to escape to the "iron road," the train tracks where Holly had barely escaped Efrafa and which subsequently the Efrafans try to avoid. Woundwort and his Owsla catch up and corner the group; suddenly, under glare of lightning, Kehaar attacks, surprising the Efrafans. The escapees run to the riverbed, where Hazel and the others lead them into the boat. As Hazel hastily chews the boat's tether, the Efrafans confront them once again, Woundwort vowing to finish them off; just as they're about to rush the boat, Bigwig shouts that Kehaar has returned, distracting the Efrafans enough to push off and safely float away to Watership Down.
Days later, Silver exclaims that General Woundwort and Efrafa's Owsla are coming to attack Watership Down. The rabbits begin to burrow deep inside the warren, closing up the entrances along the way, when Hazel has an idea: He requests an audience with Woundwort, suggesting an alliance of free and independent warrens. Displaying an initial glimpse of interest, he quickly dismisses the "preposterous" notion in a fit of vengeance; he allows Hazel to return with his terms: Give up the Efrafan deserters, or the Watership rabbits will be slaughtered.
Hazel returns to the warren with the Efrafans close behind in full force; they begin to dig into the warren. Fiver begins to convulse, emitting load moans; the otherworldly sound reaches the Efrafans, who stop digging and begin to express fear of the "great white bird" and "river beast," rumoured to be powerful allies of the Watership rabbits, when Woundwort snaps them back to their task at hand. Fiver continues to moan about "a dog's loose in the woods"; this inspires Hazel to leave with three of his fastest runners. Woundwort orders his troops to let them go, interested only in finding and killing Bigwig, whom he believes is their Chief.
Hazel has Hyzenthlay and Blackberry wait in hidden locations between Watership Down and Nuthanger Farm, while he and Dandelion head straight to Nuthanger. Running towards the farm, Hazel offers up a prayer:
Lord Frith, I know you've looked after us well, and it's wrong to ask even more of you. But my people are in terrible danger, and so I would like to make a bargain with you. My life in return for theirs.
Meanwhile at Watership Down, General Woundwort and his cronies have entered the warren. The rabbits retreat yet deeper into the warren, where they conceal Bigwig under loose dirt. Remaining behind on his own, Blackavar valiantly confronts his old Chief, but the General kills him easily.
Arriving at the farm, Hazel tries to free the farm's savage Labrador Retriever. While gnawing at the dog's lead, he notices Tabs stalking a waiting Dandelion and thumps his leg in warning; this succeeds in awakening the dog, who breaks free and chases Dandelion out of the gate and into the field. Hazel tries to return to Watership, but is pounced upon by Tabs, who taunts Hazel with his own words from their earlier encounter: "Can you run? I think not. … I think … not." Fortunately, the farmer's daughter arrives, scolds Tabs for her actions and sets Hazel free.
Dandelion leads the dog to where Blackberry is hiding, then conceals himself; when the dog catches sight of Blackberry, the dog chases him. Similarly, Blackberry leads the dog to Hyzenthlay's hiding place and also conceals himself; however, when she flees, the exhausted dog instead doubles back and comes close to discovering a panicked Blackberry. Hyzenthlay desperately rushes back, inadvertantly flushing two quails out of a brush; his attention regained, the dog resumes chasing Hyzenthlay towards Watership Down.
As Woundwort continues through the warren, he passes over the buried Bigwig, who reveals himself and strikes. They both fight, nearly to Bigwig's death. Woundwort tries to persuade Bigwig to surrender, asking him why he chooses to fight an unwinnable battle; Bigwig shocks the General by replying, "My Chief told me to defend this run." Woundwort stammers "Your … Chief?"—imagining a rabbit even bigger and stronger than Bigwig.
Just then, Hyzenthlay arrives; the dog sees the invading Efrafan rabbits and begins to slaughter them. The commotion, as well as Bigwig's revelation, draws Woundwort out of the warren. The dog catches sight of Woundwort and viciously charges at him. Woundwort—uncharacteristic of rabbits but characteristic of him—hurls himself at the dog with a snarl on his face. The outcome of this duel is not revealed; the narration explains that Woundwort's body was never found, but his memory becomes a ghost story that local rabbit parents use to frighten their children into obedience.
The film ends several years later. Hazel is now the Chief Rabbit of Watership Down. He is old and tired, but his warren is thriving. A rabbit (believed to be El-ahrairah) comes to him, revealing himself to also be the Black Rabbit of Death, and invites Hazel to join his Owsla. Lines from the opening creation myth are repeated as Hazel peacefully passes on and follows El-ahrairah towards the sun—which metamorphoses into Frith—and into the lapine afterlife.
Comparison to the novel
Similarities
Unlike many animated features, the film faithfully emulated the dark and violent sophistication of the book. As a result, many reviewers took to warning parents that children might find the content highly disturbing. This attitude extended to when the animated TV series was marketed with the producers making an effort to reassure parents that the violence was softened and that the main characters would not be permanently harmed in their adventures.
Despite the aforementioned violence, the film currently retains a British "U" certificate for all home video releases. The film is also possibly the only U-rated film to include the phrase "piss off"[citation needed] (spoken by Kehaar to Hazel, as in the book). In the United States, the film is rated "PG" by the MPAA.
Some marketers in the US were also worried that the main promotional poster (see above) appeared too dark and may scare some children. The poster is actually showing Bigwig in a snare (his distinctive hair is clearly visible), and the image on the poster did not appear in the film, which has a far bloodier depiction of Bigwig in the snare.
Differences
Although the film was fairly faithful to the novel, several changes were made to the storyline:
- The Watership Down warren is significantly smaller in the movie at the time of their expedition to Efrafa. By that point in the book it had grown to seventeen rabbits: the original eleven plus Strawberry (who joined them from Cowslip's warren), two other Sandleford survivors (Holly and Bluebell), and three hutch rabbits liberated from the farm (Clover, Boxwood, and Haystack). In the movie they are still only a band of eight—the original seven plus Holly.
- In the novel, Hazel and his companions dig Watership Down Warren themselves, under the direction of Strawberry. In the film, Blackberry finds an empty warren already dug that they move into.
- In the film, Blackavar is killed; in the novel this does not happen.
- In the novel, when Holly finds the group he says he was attacked by Cowslip. However, in the film, it was the Efrafans who attacked Holly.
- In the movie, all the hutch rabbits are re-captured by their human owners and never make it to the Down; in the novel three of four rabbits escape successfully.
These changes were most likely made to make the film easier to understand. Several characters were also taken away from the film (probably so there would be fewer characters to keep track of). 11 rabbits go on their trek to Watership Down. In the film, 8 leave (but 7 survive).
Also, the order in which some events occur is re-arranged, and the length of time spent in different places is changed. For example: in the movie Pipkin and Hazel make their first visit to Nuthanger farm during the journey to Watership Down. In the book they make their first visit much later, after the journey is over and they've been settled on Watership Down for a while. Additionally, in the movie the rabbits find Holly before finding the down, whereas in the novel they find him later.
And some characterizations are changed. For instance, the character of Silver takes on some of the attributes and actions of the absent Hawkbit, and Dandelion's primary roles in the book as the group's best scout and storyteller are almost entirely absent; his storytelling ability is alluded to a couple of times, but he never actually tells a story or does any scouting in the movie.
Critical acclaim
The movie was nominated for Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1979.
In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Watership Down the 47th greatest British film of all time.
In 2006 Channel 4 UK's "The 100 Greatest Cartoons" named "Watership Down" the 85th greatest Cartoon.
DVD releases
- Watership Down Deluxe Edition (Region 2, UK) (2005)
- Watership Down 25th Anniversary Edition (Region 4, Australia) (2003)
- Watership Down (Region 1, USA) (2002)
Major cast
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
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- In a scene that was cut from the theatrical version of Donnie Darko but included on the DVD, Donnie's class watches the Watership Down movie.
- Gerry Beckley of the 1970s supergroup America penned a theme song for the Watership Down animated film. The song was not used for the film, but the group included it on their 1976 album Hideaway.
- According to Beckley, singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, who loved the book, helped Beckley with the song, offering critiques and suggestions.
- The song was also featured in an episode of The Goodies in which they dressed as rabbits and parodied the film.
- Quite a few of the actors who provided voices for Watership Down also starred in the BBC adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: Michael Hordern (Gandalf/Frith); Simon Cadell (Celeborn/Blackberry); Richard O'Callaghan (Merry/Dandelion); and Michael Graham Cox (Boromir/Bigwig).
- John Hurt, who voiced Hazel in the film, returned to voice General Woundwort in the later Watership Down animated TV series.
- John Hurt and Nigel Hawthorne also starred in the animated film of another novel by Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs, as Snitter and Dr. Robert Boycott respectively.
- Mike Batt, who wrote "Bright Eyes", also wrote another song for the film which was not used. The song, "Losing Your Way in the Rain", has a very similar feeling and arrangement, and was recorded by ex-Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone in 1979. It was later re-recorded by Art Garfunkel and used in the animated TV series.
- The Musical group "Bright Eyes" has a song named "Watership Down", alluding to Art Garfunkel's song from the film.
- In a scene from Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Gromit turns on a radio which then starts playing "Bright Eyes".
- The musical group Gravenhurst have a song called 'Flowers In Her Hair' on their mini album "Black Holes In The Sand". The song contains the line "there's a dog loose in the wood", a line spoken by Bigwig in the film and fiver said this later in his vision near the end.
- In an Easter episode of the comedy "Vicar of Dibley", most of the main characters in the village dress up as Easter bunnies (unbeknownst to each other) and plan to place eggs in each garden. Soon when one or two "Easter bunnies" meet, they walk to the centre of the village and find a good dozen people dressed as rabbits, and Owen Newitt says "Any more and we'll be able to stage a production of bloody Watership Down!".
Notes
- ^ "Watership Down". Toonhound. Retrieved 2006-12-18.