Water For Elephants: An Adaptation of Visuals

I've heard a lot of complaints concerning film adaptations of my friend's favorite novels. People have told me they didn't like what was placed in the film, what was left out of it, how the characters changed, blah, blah. However, one of the biggest complaints I often hear, is that the film wasn't how that person had imagined it in "their head." This is the one that interests me the most. 

Now when I hear that, I tend to believe this: writers convey specific images to their readers via their style. Now, I'm not saying that everyone's thoughts are controlled by a specific writing style. Of course everyone imagines their favorite novels differently, but I'm a firm believer that if a writer's ability to paint an vivid picture for the reader is truly strong, the images imagined by readers are probably somewhat similar. 

That's exactly what Sara Gruen does in her novel Water For Elephants. Without giving too much away, WFE follows the colorful circus life of veterinarian Jacob Jankowski as retold by his ninety three year old self. The tale is an in depth romantic look at Jacob's experience working in the glory days of the 1930's circus era in America. Gruen does a masterful job of painting a vivid and colorful image of 1930's circus life. So much so, that I shared the smell of animal dung, the sights of the glorious tent being pitched by hundreds of circus hands and just became fully engulfed in a magical world. Gruen does an incredible job of mastering the imagery of circus lifestyle and fully immersing her readers in Jacob's eyesight as a hopeful and enthralled young man. 

With Gruen's imagery acting as such a predominant aspect of this novel, I was skeptical of the film adaptation when I first heard news of it. How could any director truly take Gruen's vivid depiction of circus life via her masterful imagery and really translate that beauty seamlessly to an actual image on screen, without disappointing readers? The same readers who were so captivated by such specific and detailed visuals. 

Well, director Francis Lawrence did just that, and as a reader I truly appreciate that he took the time and consideration to pay attention to such a dominant theme in Gruen's writing style when adapting her film to screen. The cinematography in Water For Elephants is beautiful (as you can see samples of in the trailer posted above). The cinematographer, Rodrigo Pietro (the guy who's responsible for the look and feel of the film, acting as the director's partner in this task) does a masterful job painting a canvas that depicts Gruen's writing style. 

She paints the circus as a magical world filled with mystery and fun (an obvious metaphor for Jacob's view of the circus as a savior in his dreary life), allowing it to come to life for the readers via written word. Francis Lawrence (a perfect fit for this specific directing job) and his cinematographer Rodrigo Pietro, lay out a canvas of beautiful color, shots, angles and composition that, in my opinion perfectly capture the magical and fairytale essence of Gruen's circus world, created with just words. 

One would think that if a director adapts a novel with strong imagery he or she would have an easier time bringing that specific image to life on screen. But in my opinion that's not the case at all. With more to grasp, include and accurately capture, the director truly needs to match that style to the point where it really matches and possibly even adds to the theme of the imagery presented in the novel. 

And by that, what I mean is, if you were asked to draw a straight line you'd be able to. Everyone would look at your straight line and have no problem with it, because there's not much a you'd be able to do that would stray from the general description of a straight line. But if someone asked you to draw something a lot more specific, to match a certain style or a mold, well you'd have to really focus on how to accurately bring that image to life. That's exactly what went on here. I have other strong opinions concerning the overall adaptation but when it came to this specific aspect, I was thrilled with how masterfully Lawrence and Pietro handled it. Lawrence has a specific visual niche that he's stamped on other films, that has to do with fairytale, magical images so I'm not at all surpised he was able to pull off  and bring to life, the magical world Gruen painted for her readers. 

Thanks Hollywood. There certainly is hope for a decent adaptation. At least when it comes to the visuals ...