| “ | You do right by me, I'll show you a life most suckers can't even dream of. | „ |
| ~ August to Jacob. |
August Rosenbluth is the secondary antagonist of the 2006 historical novel Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and the main antagonist of its 2011 film adaptation of the same name. He is the charismatic, yet abusive, oppressive and neglectful animal trainer and ringmaster of the Benzini Bros. circus.
In the film, he was portrayed by Christoph Waltz, who also played Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, Benjamin Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet, Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers, Mandrake in Epic, Bert Hanson in Horrible Bosses 2, Walter Keane in Big Eyes, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond rebooted film series, Léon Rom in The Legend of Tarzan, Miles Sellars in Most Dangerous Game and Count Volpe in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.
Biography[]
Novel[]
August is the head animal trainer of the Benzini Bros. circus, a circus that tours around America in the 1930s. Some time ago, he joined the circus and married Marlena, one of the top performers. Their relationship is not very positive as he is very possessive of her. He also consistently mistreats the animals, particularly the elephant Rosie, as he tends to tie her to a stake and whip her for failing his instructions.
When Jacob Jankowski runs away and is appointed as a veterinarian for the circus animals, August notices a relationship building between Jacob and Marlena. He harasses Jacob, threatening him to stay away from his wife. Uncle Al, the owner of the circus, informs Jacob about August suffering from schizophrenia and orders him to keep August and Marlena together or else Jacob's friends Walter and Camel will be "red-lighted" (thrown from the moving circus train).
A few days later, after seeing August trying to enter Marlena's room in a hotel, Jacob comforts Marlena resulting in them expressing their feelings for each other and the two make love. Eventually, Marlena discovers she's pregnant and refuses to let August near her, enraging Al. Al informs August about suspecting Jacob's involvement and the two plan to get rid of him. That night, Jacob climbs on top of the train and sneaks into August's room to kill him. He backs out when he sees August and Al abusing Marlena for Jacob's location, leaving his knife on August's pillow. When he returns to his car, he finds it empty other than Walter's dog Queenie, realizing that Walter and Camel had been red-lighted.
In the climax, workers who were previously red-lighted before return for vengeance and release the animals during a performance. During the panic, Jacob witnesses Rosie smacking her stake on August's head. He is then trampled to death by the stampede.
Film[]
Because Uncle Al does not appear in the film adaptation, August is made into both the animal trainer and ringmaster of the Benzini Bros. circus.
When Jacob arrives on the circus train, August hires Jacob to be a vet, primarily to help Silver, the head horse, and his case of laminitis. August instructs Jacob to fix Silver and keep him performing as long as possible. Jacob is ultimately unable to cure Silver and shoots the horse to put him out of his suffering. August is displeased by Jacob's decision and threatens to throw him off the train, or "red-lighting" as he calls it, but decides not to as Jacob potentially saved Marlena from an injury, only giving him a warning should he fail him again. Jacob asks August why he is so determined to keep the animals working despite their conditions, to which August replies that an animal's suffering is not as severe as a man's.
August then procures Rosie the Asian elephant as a replacement for the star show animal and instructs Jacob to train her. That night, August invites Jacob to his car for dinner, and as Jacob watches August dance with Marlena, he could tell that he was abusively possessive of her.
Rosie proves unable to be trained properly, prompting August to jab at her with a bullhook. In her debut show, Rosie panics and runs off, causing Marlena to twist her ankle after being forced to jump from a high pole. Once Jacob retrieves her, August attacks Rosie out of rage for harming his wife, brutally flailing her to Jacob and Marlena's distraught. Once he finishes, August laments to Jacob about how he spent a majority of the circus' salary on an elephant that couldn't be trained, and now he was in big debt as he couldn't pay the workmen unless more tickets could be sold.
As Jacob treats Rosie's wounds, he discovers that she could only understand Polish commands. Rosie then proceeds to perform flawlessly, resulting in the circus becoming popular again. As Jacob continues to work for August to train Rosie, August notices that Jacob and Marlena are spending more time together and worries that Jacob might steal Marlena or her wealth with him.
The night before Rosie's big performance, August cruelly taunts Jacob, forcing him to kiss Marlena in front of him. Marlena, realizing August was envious, tells him that she will never leave him. August replies that would simply be force of habit for a woman like her. She slaps him, and he slaps her back, prompting Jacob to attack August until he is pulled away by August's henchmen.
Afterwards, Marlena warns Jacob that she eavesdropped August and his men discussing their plan to red-light Jacob from a bridge, and Jacob convinces her to run away with him. They hide out in a hotel where they make love, only for August's henchmen to track down the two and take away Marlena while Jacob is severely beaten by Blackie.
Jacob returns to the circus and sneaks into August's room to kill him, only to back out when a black-eyed Marlena wakes up and silently beckons him not to. The next day, Marlena tells Jacob that August red-lighted many men during the night, including Walter and Camel in Jacob's place. Both of them were killed as they struck rocks.
During the performance, several of the employees who had enough with August's cruelties unlock all of the animals' cages, causing a mass panic in the big top. Jacob tries to reach for Marlena only for August to attack him, turning his fury on Marlena and strangles her when she tries to stop him. Rosie, having had enough of August's abuse, comes to Marlena's aid and smacks an iron stake against August's head, killing him. Only Jacob witnessed Rosie murder August.
Personality[]
At first, August appears to be a kind and helpful man who helps his employees and animals of his circus perform excellently. However, this is only a façade to his true nature, a mentally unstable psychopath who forces harsh limits on what he can and cannot make his circus achieve. August is also extremely abusive both to his coworkers and the animals of the circus, severely punishing them if anyone of them disappoints him even to the point of purposely tossing them off his train to avoid paying them. He finds animal suffering insignificant compared to a man's. It is also believed that he only married Marleena for her wealth and not out of actual love for her.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- August's last name, Rosenbluth, was made solely for the film version. In the novel, his last name is instead Rosenthul.