“Water for Elephants” directed by  Francis Lawrence this film is set in the time of the 1930s a former veterinary student decides that he wants to take a job that he is offered by a man name Augus. he takes this job while he is travelling with the circus and falls in love with the ringmasters. 

The film “Water for Elephants” shows the theme of freedom and confinement. we see this through the idea of being trapped in this film. the ways of being trapped do not always necessarily mean that they are physically trapped they can be trapped in many other different ways for example through bonds between other people/ loved ones or even animals. The theme of confinement and freedom is seen in many different scenes throughout this film, one of these is when Marlena is married to August who is the ringmaster of the circus and when Jacob the vet that took on the job on the circus train fell in love with Marlena he was confined from being able to get to Marlena by all the other characters in the film like Earl and Blackie. Marlena ends up falling in love with Jacob even though she is married and really wanted to be with him although she originally did not allow herself to him. ” I just can’t. I’m married. I made my bed, and now I have to lie in it” this quote shows us that she feels confined by the rules of marriage and isn’t following what her gut feeling is to break up with her horrible husband August and go with Jacob.

Another confinement in this film is the animals and this is the biggest example of it Rosie the elephant feels like she is not free and shes confined physically when she is being stabbed continuously by August,  we see this in when Jacob says “But August!” I shout after him. “Wait! She was good! She came back of her own accord. this quote was when the elephant Rosie finally wants to know what freedom feels like and runs away from August when he is stabbing her inside the circus tent.

This film teaches us that the society and world we live in today can sometimes cause us to feel confined meaning that we need to go with what we want to do like Marlena choosing Jacob over August at the end of the film. by going with gut feeling this can lead to freedom and more happiness this film also teaches us that confinement could possibly turn out to be dangerous, this is seen in the film when the confinement of Rosie the elephant and uses the stake that she is tied to in the tent she brakes this and then she stabs August before he chokes her wife. even though this isn’t that likely in the real world that we live in today this still shows us that confinement of an animal or a person can be very dangerous and cause another person to be hurt. 

I would recommend this text to any aged person from year 10 up I found that this was a sad film because it showed us what cruel things people that work in the circus do to their animals and how they also treat the workers, therefore I find that this would be a good movie to watch for people to understand this. I would not recommend it to anyone under this age because it does contain violence and younger children would not need to be exposed to this at such a young age. the language in this film is suitable for ages year 10+, therefore, this would be suitable. 

This movie related to the movie “The Intouchables” because of the friendship and respect of others. this relates because in “Water For Elephants Jacob had to have  Respect for Marlenas decisions that she wanted to make whether to be with him or her husband, whereas in the Intouchables movie Phillipe had to have respect for Driss when he had to decide whether he wanted to work for him full time and help him get around or not. also, these two films relate through friendship And love they both have the idea of this in them. they are both driving forces of these films and are part of what makes up the storyline. a strong close friendship and Love is seen between  Driss and Phillipe and Marlena and Jacob with them having a strong friendship in the novels this help to create the plot and the idea that friendship and loc helps people get through tough times like confinement (in water for elephants ) or being unable to do anything for yourself ( in the Intouchables).