2012: The Year in Film: "War Horse" Review.

What if Forrest Gump was a smart horse instead of a dumb man? So I hung out with Mom and Dad this past weekend, and Mom REALLY wanted to see this one, so see it we did. My dad and I came to the agreement that the only thing worse than the trench warfare on the Western front of WW1 in human history was the Holocaust. Being a Spielberg flick, there are a few things it's helpful to recall about Mr. Spielberg. First, when it comes to visuals, Spielberg may not have a peer in the movie business.. James Cameron, Terrence Malick or Michael Mann might have grounds to argue, but no one does sweeping vistas and epic destruction the way that he does. Also, his flicks are always imbued with a certain (often emotionally manipulative) sentimentality. The man simply cannot resist soaring music and close reaction shots that are all but guaranteed to make the room PRETTY dusty. Have you watched ET as a grown up? Holy cow, I openly wept. Not that these are bad things, the man is undoubtedly a master filmmaker, they are just certain things you notice about someone when they've been very prominently artistically expressing themselves for more than 35 years. Oh, and there's the fact that this is a guy who manages to put a happy ending on everything - whether it's a movie about dinosaurs eating people. interplanetary warfare, a murderous shark, the holocaust, WW2, a lost alien or one archaeologist vs. nazi germany, things seem to work out for Steve's heroes. Once again, not a criticism.. simply a recognition of a certain cinematic style, a style that has become as integral to what makes movies "movies" as popcorn.

So War Horse, the film, is based on a best-selling British children's novel and stage/Broadway adaption of the same. Set in Britain and Continental Europe before, during, and briefly after the First World War, the story follows the son of an English farmer as he raises and trains a remarkable horse. The boy and his horse find themselves separated by war an circumstance, and a number of nigh-miraculous happenings lead to their reunion on the French battlefield. Along the way Joey (the horse) finds himself forced into the service of the English, German and French armies, adopted by a French jam maker and his granddaughter, and gains friends and admirers at every step.

It should come as no surprise that this film looks incredible. Much like Saving Private Ryan, the wartime battle scenes are as breathtaking as they are horrible. The sweeping visuals are reminiscent of classic Hollywood, where epic scenes were created with epic settings and hundreds of extras. In many ways, that's what this film feels like.. like an old hollywood epic western or war movie. There's no political point being made, if anything, all sides are treated more or less as equally reprehensible.

At the same time, this may be the most emotionally manipulative movie I've ever seen. I don't even like horses, in fact, I'm scared of them (I like being the largest animal in any given situation), but this flick tried harder than just about any other flick I can think of to get the waterworks going, and succeeded more than once. People know that animals elicit truer and purer emotional responses than humans do, as counter-intuitive as that may seem, so by depicting the horror of war through the eyes of an innocent, endearing animal, you idealize your subject while emphasizing the suffering. And the ending? Forget about it. The theater was full of sniffles.



This is an extremely watchable, artfully done and well-executed film. Technically? It may well be perfect. The action scenes are great, the color, lighting, camera angles, scenes, settings and costumes are perfect. It is well acted, featuring many recognizable English actors, although the structure of the film, being a series of vignettes that happen to a horse over the course of the war, means that no one actor or actors is really the focus. The focus is the horse, and the war. The plot is a bit strained in having Joey manage to see so many differing parts to this war.. but by the time he finds himself in the moonscape of no man's land, you find yourself not caring all that much. I made the comparison to Forrest Gump above, because that's what I found myself reminded of. Forrest Gump found himself a part of a number of historically significant moments due to no intention of his own but rather as a victim/beneficiary of circumstance, simply riding the wave of what came his way. Joey the horse is much the same in that way. He's sold to the cavalry, so he heads to war, where he changes hands as various riders/owners/thieves are killed or captured or separated.

So, in conclusion, I liked this film, but didn't LOVE it. The plot strained the limits of credibility a bit too much for that, but that's the kind of film that it is.. it's not aiming for documentary status here. Uplifting in parts, horrifying in others, it presents an earnest look at one of the worst calamities to ever befall the human race while also supplying a happy ending. There are certainly many worse things you could say about a film.

Technically perfect, emotionally stirring, extremely well done but unfortunately falling short of greatness, War Horse gets a solid 7.5/10. The rare watchable film that really is accessible to all audiences.