WAR HORSE

WAR HORSE

Reviewed by Paul & Patrick Gibbs
Grade: A+

Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, Niels Arstrup, Tom Hiddleston,

Benedict Cumberbatch, Celine Buckens, Toby Kebbell

Based on the book by Michael Morpurgo

Screenplay by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis

Directed by Steven Spielberg

When it was announced that Steven Spielberg was going to to make a World War I film, the natural reaction was to expect another Saving Private Ryan. But the announcement that the story would center on the friendship between a boy and his horse immediately created the image that we were looking at something more like E.T. Whether you were excited or disappointed by that though will largely determine your response to to War Horse. This is the master filmmaker at his most blatantly, unabashedly sentimental, and if you're part of the crowd that doesn't like that, this movie probably isn't for you, and you'll likely consider it maudlin and corny. If you're part of the crowd that does like that side of Spielberg, this is a must-see, and his most heartfelt movie to come along in many a year. For out part, almost anyone who knows us will know that we are lifelong, devoted Spielberg fans. Degrees of sentiment that might seem overdone in someone else's film move can us to tears in a Spielberg movie, because they feel sincere and never forced. War Horse is a truly beautiful film in every sense of the word, from Janusz Kaminski's gorgeous cinemtaography (arguably his best since Schindler's List) to John Williams' breathtaking musical score, to the story itself. War Horse gets our vote as the best film of 2011. We've already seen it twice, and will see it many more times. And after proving that he can show the horrors of war so unflinchingly multiple times, it is nice to see that Spielberg still has the ability to portray such a weighty topic with equal effectiveness and power by what he does not show.

The lead character, a horse named Joey, is sold to a drunken farmer named Ted Narracot (Peter Mullan), who impulsively buys him at an auction, largely out of spite toward the other bidder, his landlord (David Thewlis). While Joey is not well suited to being a plow horse, Narracot's son Albert quickly becomes attached to the animal, forming a bond that is likely to remind Spielberg fans of E.T. and Elliot. But financial hardships force Narracot to sell this horse to a British cavalry officer (Tom Hiddleston, the villain from Thor) as World War I breaks out. Albert vows that one day he will see his beloved horse again.

From here, the film becomes episodic, as Joey drifts from place to place and owner to owner, seeing the war from the British, French and German points of view. The horse does not see the world in terms of French, English and German – to him, people are all the same. One of the great strengths of the film is that, while the viewer becomes attached to each new owner and is disappointed to see them go, we quickly become just as attached to the next character. Perhaps most effective are Niels Arestrup and Celine Buckens as a French farmer and his sickly daughter. Arestrup provides the best human performance in the film, giving his character a quiet dignity that is both uplifting and heart-breaking. But, of course, the real star of the film is the horse, and it's a testament to Spielberg's skill as a director that he is able to evoke so much emotion from Joey. Rarely, if ever, has a film so effectively followed an animal's point of view. And Spielberg is at his most visually and technically brilliant here, creating an epic scope that recalls Gone With the Wind and the films of John Ford. This is the most unabashedly old fashioned film to come out of Hollywood in years, and we mean that entirely in a good way. One sequence, of Joey charging dramatically across No Man's Land, ranks among the most impressive of Spielberg's career.

Detractors will call War Horse “manipulative”, and perhaps it is. But the vast majority of films manipulate emotion in one way or another, whether it's to thrill us, scare us, make us laugh, or make us cry. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo blatantly manipulates our emotions to shock, scare and disgust us, but somehow this sort of manipulation gets a pass from cynics. Spielberg manipulates our emotions here in the way he does better than anyone, and does so without ever insulting the audience or getting treacly .

This film pulls the viewer in from the beginning and will keep a hold of you long after you have left the theater. As stated before, the horse does not distinguish once side from the other, and this rubs off on those around him, seen most memorably in a touching and surprisingly funny sequence where the horse quite literally brings the two sides together, and the performances by actors Toby Kebbel and Hinnerk Schönemann bring a humanity to the soldiers on both sides of the conflict that is both joyful and heartbreaking. But the heart and soul of the film is in intuitive the performances given by the seven Horses who play the role of Joey. Spielberg himself professed to be in awe of the acting ability of these animals, and said that they had an ability to feel the emotion of the scene and be “in the moment” that matched an actor he has worked with. This may sound far fetched, but try watching the movie and arguing the point.

War Horse is the essence of cinematic storytelling, but Spielberg and company should be commended for giving due credit to the ground breaking stage production, listed prominently on the ending credits (in stark contrast to David Fincher's Dragon Tattoo trying to pretend it is is not a remake and refusing to acknowledge the strong influence of the original Swedish film.). The heart of a great film is a great story, and whether on the page, the stage, or the big screen, War Horse is a great story, and at the heart of that story is a hero with a nobility, courage and love that inspires us to be better. If that does not appeal to you, so be it, but you are missing out on something amazing.

War Horse is rated PG-13 for violence, peril and mild profanity.