Easter Sunday - Special Review: Watership Down (1978)

As with the animated flick Heavy Metal (see review for that here), I first saw Watership Down by sheer happenstance. I'm not sure if the same holds true these days, but back when I was a kid, a television set was the cheapest, if not the best, babysitter a parent could have. My mom would simply plop me down in a chair or on the sofa, tune the TV to something kid-friendly, and be about her merry business, whatever it was.   

Oftentimes, that meant switching it to something animated, and back then, before anime was a thing, cartoons almost always meant suitable for family viewing. Then the likes of Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat, the original Lord of the Rings) and Gerald Scarfe (Pink Floyd-The Wall) came among, and that all changed. Suddenly, animated films weren't just for kids anymore.   

Next thing you knew, stuff like Heavy Metal, American Pop, Rock 'N' Rule and the live-action/animated hybrid Cool World were cropping up left and right, and once they hit cable, confusion arose, especially amongst parents who didn't know any better, to whom a cartoon was strictly kid's stuff. Not anymore. 

Watership Down is a prime example of the downside of this sort of thing. If you were a child of the 80's like I was, and you saw this thing, you weren't soon going to forget it. Disney this wasn't. Not that Disney wasn't already notorious for killing off parents by then (Bambi, Dumbo, later The Lion King, the list goes on...), but they tended to imply it, rather than actually show it. Not so with Watership Down.   

The film, based on the classic novel from 1972 by Richard Adams, told the tale of a group of rabbits who flee their warren when one of them has a premonition that something bad is about to happen. (Does it ever.) Now homeless, the group go in search of a new home, running afoul of birds, cats, rats, dogs, foxes and, of course, the worst predator of all- man- along the way. Some of them do not make it. 

However, the real nightmare fuel here- and there is plenty to go around- was the formidable foe, General Woundwort (memorably voiced by Harry Andrews, Theater of Blood), who rules his warren with an iron paw, scarring all who live there to ID them, should they try to escape, and killing all those who defy him, with the help of his militant Owsla, sort of rabbit police force that keeps everyone in line.  

With the help of rogue seagull Kehaar, our heroes seek to liberate the rabbits who wish to live free, without the General and his lot breathing down their necks. If this all sounds pretty adult, in terms of themes, that's because it is. Think Animal Farm, not Disney.

And like I said, things get graphic- REALLY graphic. We're talking dead bunnies everywhere, throats ripped out, eaten alive by rabid dogs and murderous militant rabbits who mean business. It ain't pretty. 

                                 And this is just the first five minutes! 

Perhaps needless to say, this film traumatized the shit out of an entire generation of kids, and according to IMDB, not only is it still considered the most violent PG-rated animated film of all time, but, some four decades after its initial release, it's still receiving complaints from angry parents who don't take responsibility for dropping the ball and end up inadvertently freaking out their kids and raising all sort of questions in the process about life and death and the like.  

Of course, many would say the film was doing them a favor- kids have to find out about this stuff somehow, after all, or they end up getting blindsided by it when they least expect it. But you better believe this thing made an impact on all of those who saw it back in the day, when access to such things was limited at best. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it probably made more than a few kids into vegetarians in the process.  

I came pretty close- enough to balk at eating a fish after my dad took me fishing and I put two and two together and realized we were going to eat it later on. I insisted on keeping the fish as a pet, putting it in a bucket in my mom's basement and causing the garage to stink to high heaven- my mom probably never forgave my dad for that, but they were already divorced by then, so...  

Ultimately, my love for barbecue chicken, hamburgers and steak overpowered my need to save all the animals, but it was pretty close. To this day, if I had it as a pet, I don't tend to eat it, fish notwithstanding. (I had a pet pig at one time, so you do the math on that one- no bacon or sausages for me.)   

That said, I do love animals, and I absolutely cringe whenever I see anything bad happen to them in the movies, much less in real-life, and if you harm an animal in front of me, we're done, bugs notwithstanding. Although, if it's just me around, I will absolutely pick up a bug and take it outside before killing it, save maybe a mosquito or a cockroach, which are the absolute WORST.   

Anyway, getting off-topic here. The point is, Watership Down was one of those seminal movies for me and a lot of other kids that really made an impact on us, that, much like General Woundwort's soldiers, actually left a mark. Even after all these years, I still remember where I was and what was going through my mind when I first saw it- and so does my mother, who had to deal first-hand with the fallout. She still rues the day she let me watch it, in fact. 

I suppose I understand that, but at the same time, I learned some valuable lessons from the movie. Kids are more resilient than parents often give them credit for and are able to absorb what they need from things, a few nightmares aside. 

The point is, parents can't shield their kids from everything- witness all the school shootings as of late and the recent reaction of kids and teens to it, for example- and it's pointless to even try all the time, especially with all the access kids have to things these days.   

A smart kid can navigate their way around the roadblocks to seeing (or listening) to what they want to, and the best thing a parent can do is block what they can and, I don't know, try talking to them about the rest, so that they don't end up with a fractured view of what they do see.  

I suppose my subsequent love of horror movies and literature might could be traced back to things like this movie, and even, yes, my love of Disney (i.e. The Haunted Mansion ride and certain scenes in their movies, notably Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and especially The Black Cauldron), who didn't shy away from such things, either, even if they didn't go as graphic as this film did.   

Try being proactive instead of trying to hide everything, you know? Doesn't mean you have to make it easy for them, just don't get carried away. I saw some things in my childhood I shouldn't have, and I turned out alright. It might be more of an uphill battle these days, admittedly, but it doesn't mean there can't be a happy medium. 

That said, Watership Down is a stone-cold classic and it's not ALL gloom and doom- it's actually quite inspiring, with it's tale of everyone working together to achieve a shared goal- and one of my all-time favorite animated movies, if not my favorite, period.

I'd even go so far as to say it was one of my favorite movies, really. I can't recommend it enough. If you dig it, you should really read the book, which is fantastic, and even more elaborate in terms of creating this world, with its own quirks and language and the like.  

There's also a sequel, Tales from Watership Down, which followed some twenty-five years later, in 1996, which, along with the original novel, served as the loose inspiration for a three-season animated series from 1999 to 2001, also produced by writer/director Martin Rosen.

Reportedly, a remake mini-series is in the works from the BBC and Netflix, with some impressive voice talent that includes James McAvoy, Ben Kingsley, Rosamund Pike and Gemma Arterton, among others.  

In addition, Martin Rosen followed this film up with another great, realistic adaption of Adams' work, 1982's The Plague Dogs, which is well-worth seeing and reading as well. Even more so than this film, it's an eloquent plea for animal rights, if lesser-known and slightly harder to track down.   

The excellent score, by Malcolm Williamson and Angela Morley, who took over after the former abandoned the project, due to prior commitments, is fantastic in its own right and also worth a listen on its own. (You can do so here.) I especially like "Kehaar's Theme," which has a sort-of "Peter and the Wolf"-like quality to it. In addition, Art Garfunkel, of Simon & Garfunkel fame, recorded the hit single "Bright Eyes" for the film, which is just lovely.  

It's worth a mention how many musicians have been inspired by the film as well. Italian prog-rockers Trick or Treat released two concept albums based on the book/film, including a cover of "Bright Eyes." Swedish prog-rocker Bo Hansson also recorded a concept album based on the book/movie, as well as an extended piece, "Rabbit Music." British rockers Fall of Efrafra recorded a whopping three albums worth of music inspired by it. 

In addition, folk rockers America recorded a song about it, appropriately entitled "Watership Down"; And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have a song "Prince of a Thousand Enemies" inspired by it, rappers Common Market, Sole and Sintax the Terrific have songs/albums referencing it, and indie artist Vanessa Carlton has an album, Rabbits on the Run, influenced by it. Needless to say, that's a wide range of artists! 

I myself reference it whenever something comes up that reminds me of the book, notably whenever I go to the beach, where I never miss a chance to talk about the "beeg water," a la Kehaar. Kehaar in general, as voiced by comedian Zero Mostel (Mel Brooks' The Producers), is a favorite, and I just get a kick out of the way he talks and his backwards-ass dialogue.  

In short, I'm not the only one highly influenced by the film, and whose life has been touched by the plight of these brave rabbits. To say that this is not just a film for kids is putting it mildly, and that goes double for the book. Whatever the case, if you haven't seen it, it's well-worth seeking out, and again, I can't recommend the book enough. 

Have a great Easter, every-bunny, and thanks for reading!