BBC introduces ‘caressingly’ version of traumatiserende film ‘Watership Down’, but is that really a good idea?

Film ‘Watership Down’ is without doubt one of the most discussed films of all time. The print from 1978 is from this year might be replaced by the remake of the BBC, that the bloody events prefer to omit.

The idea has met with some controversy, writes VRT NWS. Many viewers saw namely a deeper meaning about war, violence, religion, and survival in the original film, which is based on the eponymous novel by Richard Adams.

For whom the moment in Cologne will hear thunder: ‘Watership Down’ tells the story of a colony of rabbits, who are forced to move. Together they go on a dangerous journey, in which many rabbits, in bloody ways of life. The film is considered to be traumatic for children, so the BBC took the issue to a not as horrifying version of the print.

The cast should be there already. So, there are voices of James McAvoy (‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’), Ben Kingsley (‘Iron Man’), Gemma arterton plays (‘Prince of Persia’), Olivia Colman (‘Broadchurch’) and John Boyega ("Star Wars: The Force Awakens’).

For the sake of clarity, life is there for the rabbits in the new movie does not make it any easier. The horror is only less explicitly mapped. A good idea or not? The opinions are still very divided. Where one critic finds that children are not confronted with grim images that they do not yet understand, ask the other whether we are not to become sentimental. It remains a story about loss and survival, not about cute knuffeldiertjes.

The new ‘Watership Down’ is on 22 and 23 december to watch it on BBC One.