Rated PG-13 for moments of intense violence and sexual content
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider, Jim Norton, Hal Holbrook
Director: Francis Lawrence
Based upon the novel by Sara Gruen, the movie opens in the present, with an elderly man (Hal Holbrook) recounting the tale to a young carnival manager (Paul Schneider) intrigued by this stranger who houses a sea of historical knowledge regarding the big top.
The year is 1931. Jacob Janikowski (Robert Pattinson), the son of Polish immigrants, is nearing the completion of his veterinary degree at Cornell University. In the midst of his final exam, however, he is called out of the room, informed that both parents were killed in an accident. With his family home now possessed by the bank (his father needed the funds for his son's tuition), Jacob wanders along the railroad tracks with a single suitcase in tow... no real plan, just headed to Albany in the distant hope of finding employment.
His life takes a fateful turn when he jumps onto a passing train. The locomotive is dragging its cars to the next town for yet another show. This is the Benzini Brothers Circus. He befriends one of the circus' humble workers named Camel (Jim Norton), makes himself useful the first day performing menial tasks, then offers his services as a veterinarian to August (Christoph Waltz), the circus' imperious ringmaster. ("I'm sure Ringling Brothers has their own veterinarian on staff," Jacob avers. The mere mention of his competition makes August's blood boil. If Ringling Brothers has one, he cannot be outdone.) He hires Jacob.
Jacob's humane approach to his craft clashes with August's fierce need to keep his business solvent, as reminders of possible famine are omnipresent. When the circus' star horse comes down with an incurable ailment, Jacob suggests putting him down. August will have none of it. ("I can see your profession requires you to care for the animals and you don't want to see them suffer. I respect that," August tells Jacob. "But what that tells me is that you've never seen men suffer.")
August somehow manages to finagle enough funds for the purchase of the circus' newest (and boldest) attraction... a performing elephant named Rosie that appears weathered and worn from being purchased, sold, and purchased again and again. August orders Jacob to work with the show's star performer... his own wife, the radiant Marlena (Reese Witherspoon). The attraction is immediate.
Marlena is talented and beautiful but aloof, though we know her reserved demeanor toward anyone but August protects her from the potential rage of an overly-possessive husband and boss. She and Jacob grow close, yet she refuses to run away lest she return to the lonely streets survived as an orphaned child. It's not so much a devil-you-know versus a devil-you-don't thing, as she's acquainted with both demons. It's just that the hellfire doesn't scorch as bad from inside the circus tent. It's the life she chose. But the possibility of a happier existence beckons, and it's only a matter of time before August senses her desire to retreat.
I'm not sure if Robert Pattinson is truly limited as an actor or if the "Twilight" franchise only makes it seem that way, but he's a solid choice for Jacob. He's able to convey a steady idealism in the face of economic hardship bred from his love of animals and a longing for recently-deceased loved ones.
The movie really belongs to Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz. Witherspoon plays Marlena as a cool customer whose prudent approach to social interaction was amassed from maturing alone on the streets amid all manner of unscrupulous personalities. It's interesting to watch how she mollifies August in trying situations. "It's okay, darling. I'm here. I'm right here," she whispers to him while they slow dance, after a heavily intoxicated August takes a forceful grip on her chin. The nature of their relationship is established immediately. And Waltz makes August more than just an aggregate of violent tendencies... he conveys a quiet desperation and a self-disrupting pride that manages to unweave the fabric of everything in his tenuous control.
The film was directed by Francis Lawrence, a former music video director who helmed the Will Smith post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure "I Am Legend" and the forgettable special effects-fest "Constantine" with Keanu Reeves. For a filmmaker who seems to revel in CGI effects, he opts here to rely on the rich production design of Jack Fisk and Rodrigo Prieto's lush cinematography to bring Richard LaGravenese's solid script adaptation to life. (Although there is a terrific special effects number late in the film, as various dangerous animals escape their cages.)
While not an epic romance, the film is nonetheless an effective love story skillfully told against a backdrop of seemingly inescapable desperation. It's a movie that clings like a vise to its idealism. "Running away to join the circus?" the old man considers late in the film. He shakes his head. "I'm coming home."
It doesn't get much more idealistic than that.
* * * out of * * * * stars
