Watership Down and World Events

A book by Richard Adams which I read many years ago and a film I've seen a few times makes our current world situation appear similar. Watership Down.

Here is the plot and summary from Wikepedia:

The novel begins in a warren with Fiver, a young rabbit, who is considered a runt by the warren and yet is also a seer, receiving a frightening vision of his warren's imminent destruction. He and his brother Hazel, the main character of the novel who at this point is low in the rabbit hierarchy, attempt to persuade their chief rabbit of the danger facing them, but are ignored because of Fiver's inability to accurately describe this danger. They then set out on their own with a small band of rabbits to search for a new home, though with difficulty, as the warren's military caste—the Owsla—try to prevent them leaving.

The traveling group of rabbits find themselves following the leadership of Hazel, a role reversal because of his previous position as an unimportant member of the warren. They travel through dangerous territory with Bigwig and Silver (both former Owsla) and Buckthorn as the only significantly strong rabbits among them. The company copes with many dangers and meets a rabbit called Cowslip, who invites the group back to be members of his warren. Here, the company encounter an apparently prosperous rabbit colony with ample food and protection from predators by a human whose farm is near their warren. However, Fiver is profoundly suspicious, especially when he observes that these rabbits do not tell the customary tales of El-ahrairah but instead recite fatalistic poetry. When Fiver attempts to leave, Bigwig learns firsthand the deadly secret of the warren: the whole area is a human-designed rabbit farm with numerous snares placed to harvest them. After helping Bigwig escape from a snare, Fiver exposes his fellows to the warren's horrific secret, effectively convincing them to flee this honey trap of a colony immediately.

Fiver's visions promise a safe place in which to settle, and the group eventually finds Watership Down, an ideal location to set up their new warren. They are soon reunited with Captain Holly and Bluebell, also from the original warren, who reveal that Fiver's vision was true and the entire warren was destroyed by humans.

Everything is peaceful for a while before Hazel encounters a problem. Hazel realizes there are no does, making the continuation of their new home an impossibility. With the help of a seagull named Kehaar who they have befriended, they locate a nearby warren, Efrafa, which is overcrowded and has many does.

Hazel sends a small delegation to this warren, composed of Captain Holly, Silver, Buckthorn, and Strawberry, to present their request for does. While waiting for the group to return, Hazel makes a reconnaissance trip with Pipkin to a nearby farm to talk with a group of hutch rabbits who live there, partly in their quest for does but also because of Hazel's curiosity. They discover there are indeed does at the farm and, against the advice of the clairvoyant Fiver, decide to gather a raiding party to attempt to bring them to Watership Down. They don't successfully bring back any does, but they bring back news that there are in fact does there.

Hazel and the trustworthy yet diminutive Pipkin bring back the tidings to Watership Down, setting the stage for an adventurous and daring raid. Hazel and Bigwig, along with a group of four others, venture out to the farm and bring the hutch rabbits to Watership Down. They return with two does, a good start, but not nearly enough for a warren of their size. On their way back, Hazel suffers a gunshot wound to his hind leg.

After the mission to the farm, the delegation sent to Efrafa returns and Hazel and his rabbits learn that Efrafa is a tyrannical police state led by the dictator General Woundwort. Hazel's rabbits barely return alive, but the group does manage to identify an Efrafan doe named Hyzenthlay who wants to leave the warren and can recruit other does to join.

Hazel and Bigwig devise a plan to rescue the group of rabbits from Efrafa to join them on Watership Down. The Efrafan escapees start their new life on Watership Down, but soon Woundwort's army arrives to attack their warren. Through the bravery and loyalty of Bigwig and the ingenuity of Hazel, the Watership Down rabbits defeat Woundwort's army. The fate of Woundwort himself is not exactly clear, but he is never again seen or heard of by any rabbit, bird, or mouse near the down.

The novel's epilogue describes Watership Down after the battle, as well as how Hazel, by now an old rabbit, is sleeping in his burrow one "chilly, blustery morning in March." Hazel is visited by El-ahrairah, who invites Hazel to join his Owsla. Leaving his friends and no-longer-needed body behind, Hazel departs Watership Down, slipping away, "running easily down through the wood, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom."

Characters Main article: List of Watership Down characters
Hazel: The protagonist, Fiver's brother; he leads the rabbits from Sandleford and eventually becomes Chief Rabbit. Though Hazel is not particularly large or powerful, he is loyal, brave, and a quick thinker. He sees the good in each individual, and what they bring to the table; in so doing, he makes sure that no one gets left behind, thus earning the respect and loyalty of his warren. He often relies on Fiver's advice, and trusts in his brother's instincts absolutely.
Fiver: A small runt rabbit whose name literally means "Little-five" or "Little-many" (rabbits have a single word, "hrair", for all numbers greater than four; Fiver's name in Lapine, Hrairoo, indicates that he is the smallest of a litter of five or more rabbits). As a seer, he has visions and very strong instincts. Fiver is one of the most intelligent rabbits in the group. He is quiet and intuitive, and though he does not directly act as a leader, the others listen to and follow his advice. Vilthuril becomes his mate.
Bigwig: An ex-Owsla officer, and the largest rabbit of the group. His name in Lapine is Thlayli, which literally means "Fur-head" and refers to the shock of fur on the back of his head. Though he is powerful and fierce, he is shown to also be cunning in his own way when he devises a plan to defeat the larger and stronger General Woundwort.
Blackavar: A rabbit with very dark fur who tries to escape from Efrafa but is apprehended, mutilated, and put on display to discourage further escape attempts. When he is liberated by Bigwig, he quickly proves himself as an expert tracker and ranger.
Hyzenthlay: A female rabbit who lives in Efrafa. She escapes with Bigwig, and becomes Hazel's mate. Her name means literally 'shine-dew-fur,' or 'fur shining like dew.'
Kehaar: A Black-headed Gull who is forced, by an injured wing, to take refuge on Watership Down. He is characterised by his frequent impatience, guttural accent and unusual phrasing. After discovering the Efrafa warren and helping the rabbits, he rejoins his colony. According to Adams, Kehaar was based on a fighter from the Norwegian Resistance in World War II.[9]
General Woundwort: A vicious, cruel and brutally efficient rabbit who was orphaned at a young age, Woundwort founded the Efrafa warren and is its tyrannical chief. Though he is greater even than Bigwig in terms of his size and strength, he lacks the former's loyalty and kindness. He even leads an attack to capture the Watership warren as an act of revenge against Bigwig. After his apparent death, he lives on in rabbit legend as a bogeyman.
Frith: A god-figure who created the world and promised that rabbits would always be allowed to thrive. In Lapine, his name literally means "the sun".
El-ahrairah: A rabbit trickster folk hero, who is the protagonist of nearly all of the rabbits' stories. He represents what every rabbit wants to be: smart, devious, tricky, and devoted to the well-being of his warren. In Lapine, his name is a contraction of the phrase Elil-hrair-rah, which means "prince with a thousand enemies".
Black Rabbit of Inlé: A sinister phantom servant of the god Frith who appears in rabbit folklore. He is the rabbit equivalent of a grim reaper in human folklore, and similarly ensures all rabbits die at their predestined time. "Inlé" is the Lapine term for the moon or darkness.
[edit] ThemesWatership Down has been described as an allegory, with the labours of Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, and Silver "mirror[ing] the timeless struggles between tyranny and freedom, reason and blind emotion, and the individual and the corporate state."[10] Adams draws on classical heroic and quest themes from Homer and Virgil, creating a story with epic motifs

Theme Song:



Here is link for a free video of the film, in seven parts.
Watership Down 1978

Very dark film but worth watching based on how things are developing. New 1999 version is out on YouTube but is toned down a bit.