Based on Watership Down by Richard Adams
Screenplay by Tom Bidwell
Directed by Noam Murro
Starring James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega, Ben Kingsley, Tom Wilkinson, Gemma Arterton, Peter Capaldi, Olivia Colman, Mackenzie Crook, Anne-Marie Duff
Production company(s) 42, Brown Bag Films, Biscuit Filmworks, BBC, Netflix
“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever 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 shall never be destroyed.”
― Richard Adams, Watership Down
Richard Adams’ Watership Down is, of course, a treasure. Stephen King, in one of the rare instances where he seemingly used one of his characters to echo his own voice, had Stuart Redman opine that it was the best story ever told. “And it’s just a book about a bunch of damn rabbits!” Stuart protests in wonder. King in real life rates it as the third-best novel he’s ever read.
Not bad for a bunch of damn rabbits.
There was a 1978 movie, animated, directed by Martin Rosen, that was both brilliant and controversial. Parents in the UK were outraged that the movie was rated safe for four year olds, and in America it got a PG rating.
The movie faithfully copied the book, and it is the nature of British fantasy that it is often darker and more violent than what Americans have been led to expect from Disney studios. Rabbits fight, often with bloody results. There is mass carnage when Sandleford Warren is destroyed by land developers. General Woundwort is a true monster.
The new BBC/Netflix adaptation, a series, won’t stop the controversy. Right off, there is the artwork. Readers who view the middle counties as green rolling hills punctuated by cool sunshine and gentle rains will be started by the art here, where the environment is informed by “u embleer hrair,” the stinking thousand enemies.* Rabbits inhabit a universe where everyone is their enemy, and the animosity of their environment is made evident right from the start. It is dark, lowering and threatening. A place of sanctuary early on, a ruined church, becomes a vicious and frightening trap. It serves as an advisory that the escalating adventures that follow will be intense and dark and true to the nature of the story. Reflect on the fact that if his mother hadn’t died in that fire, nobody would have heard of Bambi today. True great stories have blood sacrifices and evil gods and suffering.
One disappointment is the animation, which seems a decade out of date. Except for the rabbits who have distinct features, such as Fiver and Bigwig, they’re a bit hard to tell apart. I can infer from the conversations, recognizing quotes and attitudes from particular rabbits that the series, thankfully, conveys accurately.
I’m only one episode in, enough to get a sense of how the Adams work will be presented (overall, very well indeed), so there remain two voice personations that I’m avidly looking forward to. Ben Kingsley will be doing General Woundwort. His magnificent voice can range from the stiletto malevolence of Wayne Pygrim to the gruff brutality of James Gandolfini.
Ever since the genie in the Robin Williams’ version of “Aladdin” it hasn’t been too unusual for characters to have a passing resemblance to the actors voicing them. But sight unseen, I have absolutely no trouble visualizing Peter Capaldi as an excitable and self-important seagull. He should make a splendid Kehaar.
Now appearing on Netflix.
*The Rabbits have their own vocabulary, one that borrows from Arabic and eastern European roots. Anyone who has read the book will be familiar with the words. Those who haven’t might want to visit this glossary site and print it out for reference. There are times when it will be useful.
Reading the book itself is the best background of all, of course.