War Horse

It feels like ages since Steven Spielberg has made his 'own' film. The only other films he's directed since Munich (which was 7 years ago) were Indiana Jones and Tintin, so it's good to see him sinking his teeth into something a bit more substantial. War Horse marks the first time the director has focused on WW1 (previously he had done WWII in at least four films) and it has a real 'old world' feel to it, calling to mind the classic work of iconic directors like David Lean and John Ford. The old fashioned style of epic filmmaking that he evokes could be construed as cheesiness by some, and initially it seems to have a lighter touch than one might expect, but the characters and the hero of the film (an actual horse) pulls the viewer into this historical period and landscape. Spielberg works through some rather heavy themes with all the skill, delicacy and expertise that has made his previous body of work so uniformly successful and entertaining. This is very much the family-friendly version of Saving Private Ryan.

In case you didn't guess from the marketing materials (and the name of the film), War Horse is about a horse. Much like the classic western Winchester '73 and its eponymous gun, War Horse follows this horse as it passes from owner to owner throughout the duration of the First World War. In the opening scenes a good-natured but alcoholic farmer (Peter Mullan) drastically overpays for this horse (named Joey) in a fit of whimsy, much to the glee of the local landowner who hopes to repossess his farm. But the value of this animal is more than monetary, he will end up being priceless as he travels from soldier to British officer, to the Germans and to the French, and a determined farmboy (Jeremy Irvine) enlists in the war just to try and find Joey so he can keep him safe.

I have to admire Spielberg for daring to tackle such an old-fashioned concept. Very few people these days are prepared to invest themselves in a film that doesn't have a narrative engineered around human characters. The horse in this film isn't really anthropomorphised too much, but if you can't handle the idea of people talking to horses as if they're people then you're probably going to have a hard time taking this movie seriously. It is a serious movie though... WWI was the last war for horses, and as such it wasn't a war where they really belonged, a conceit that allows Spielberg to explore ideas relating to old 'honourable' warfare in contrast to newer forms of warfare. Did horses ever belong in human-made wars? The tragedy of WWI really hits home when you consider the cost of life felt by these animals, and War Horse explores this alongside all the other classic parts of WWI mythology - the idea of horses on a modern battlefield, the unexpected ceasefires, the classism that prompted officers to fire on their own men, and ideas relating to honour amongst enemies.

There's something about the modern masters (Spielberg, Scorsese) in that they're always able to show everything clearly and memorably. The action is never messed up by unneccessarily flashy editing, everything is blocked and choreographed in relation to how the viewer can perceive what's happening. Character takes precedence and this follows through into the action in terms of the perspectives used. I mentioned earlier that Spielberg pays homage to David Lean in the way he directs this film, and this can be seen especially well in the shot where Rose Narracott (Emily Watson) is shown knitting at the end of a scene and it dissolves perfectly into the image of Albert and Joey toiling on the field. It reminded me of that classic dissolve in Lawrence of Arabia that introduces Omar Sharif.

This is a really solid film that stands alongside Spielberg's canon of classics. There are a few scenes where I was very much like 'not cool!' because I have a hard time handling cruelty to animals in any form (even when it's fictional). This made it a little hard to watch at times, but I guess this is also why Spielberg didn't make the film too dark or revisionist. I watched the whole thing with a lump in my throat, it was very moving and spirit-rousing.

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg

WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis. Based on a book by Michael Morpurgo.
KEY ACTORS: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Marsan, Toby Kebbell, Niels Arestrup

RELATED TEXTS
- The 1982 children's novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.
- Spielberg's other war films: Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun and 1941.
- Some other big WWI films: All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory, A Very Long Engagement, Gallipoli, Grand Illusion and Sergeant York.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - nominated for Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
BAFTAs - nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Original Music, Best Special Visual Effects, Best Production Design and Best Sound.
Golden Globes - nominated for Best Film (Drama) and Best Original Score.