As ink black apocalyptic visions dressed up as cute kiddie animal movies go, Watership Down is up there with the very blackest.
Martin Rosen’s film of Richard Adams’s much loved novel tells the tale of a group of rabbits forced to abandon their warren in search of a new home in the fabled Watership Down. Led by the questing Fiver, the bold and brave Bigwig and the decent and honourable Hazel, they trek across country, battling rival warren leaders like the bloodthirsty General Woundwort and cold, uncaring humans, all the while guided by a lovable seagull called Kehaar.
On paper that may sound like a Disney-flavoured journey of discovery and wonder, as a bunch of cute and cuddly creatures head off to a new utopian future in the sun, showing courage and fortitude and learning team skills as they go, but in reality it’s a bleak and brutal study of animal life in an English countryside devastated by mankind’s utter disregard for the environment.
Like many a product of my youth that was aimed at the kiddie market its superficial beauty hid a dark, murky underbelly that didn’t shy away from the tougher side of life. An animation aimed at younger viewers for sure, but one with very adult and complex themes all the same. It impressed and shocked all of us who saw it as wide-eyed impressionable youngsters upon its original release in 1978 and now it’s ready to do the same for a new generation of viewers.
Newly restored in 4K and freshly released on UHD and Blu-ray by the BFI with an impressive array of extras including a vintage commentary track, postcards and even a beautifully bound book it remains, at its core, an astonishing piece of animation. There’s a free flowing, naturalistic quality to the hand drawn rabbits that makes today’s computer generated imagery feel flat and lifeless.
Artistically gorgeous to look at and boasting a hugely impressive voice cast that includes John Hurt, Ralph Richardson, Richard Briers and Denholm Elliott, it also contains a thumpingly good score from Angela Morley and a main theme in the form of Bright Eyes as sung by Art Garfunkel that proved to be a massive hit single and a calling card for the film that brought it to audiences way beyond the cinema.
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Watching it today is no easier a viewing experience than it was in 1978. The bleakness of the future faced by Fiver (voiced to great effect by Briers) and his crew and the dark, political allegory of much of both Adams and Rosen’s vision is as stark as it ever was and it would take a hard heart not to be moved by the fate of the rabbits as they struggle for survival against all the odds.
As a pure slice of beautiful animation with a tough but powerful story to tell though this is a piece of art that will be passed on from generation to generation with each new viewer finding something special to treasure in its dark and multi-layered folds. If that’s not the sign of a great film then I don’t know what is, frankly.
