WAR HORSE

War Horse (2011)
Grade: B+
DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG
Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Emily Watson, Matt Milne, Robert Emms, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Kross, Leonard Carow, Celine Buckens, Niels Arestrup, Toby Kebbell, Hinnerk Schonemann, and Eddie Marsan
PREMISE: A horse born and raised on an English farm in the early 1900s is whisked away for use in the army during World War I. During the war, the horse goes from owner to owner, from English to Germans, and, like the people around it, struggles to survive.

RATED PG-13 for intense war violence and scenes of peril, and dramatic emotional content

Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List will always be Steven Spielberg’s masterpieces, but War Horse is one heck of an invigorating epic. Beautifully-filmed, powerfully-moving, funny, terrifying and both gut and heart-wrenching, Horse is a powerful picture that, in the hands of a masterful director, shows both the agony and the ecstasy human beings can experience, and the best and worst they’re capable of. Though it’s nearly two-and-a-half hours long, it’s an adventure that keeps you spellbound, and only during the last thirty minutes (when the movie threatens to overdose on sentimentality) does it stumble.

Plot: By all accounts, Joey (the titular horse, which is chestnut brown with a few identifying white spots) should never have passed into Albert Narracott’s hands (Albert is played by the earnest, expressive actor Jeremy Irvine). But his drunken father (Peter Mullan) saw something in its fight and spirit at an auction, enough to quite literally bet the family’s farm on it. When the financial burden of the farm becomes too great, however, the father is forced to sell Joey, sending him into the hands of an idealistic army officer (Tom Hiddleston) just as the Great War appears on the horizon. After one early, frightful battle, Joey passes into the hands of the Germans, where he’s soon used to aid a pair of brothers (David Kross and Leonard Carow) as they dessert the Kaiser’s ranks. Shortly thereafter abandoned at a farm owned by a hard-working old man (Niels Arestrup) and his sweet-natured granddaughter (Celine Buckens), he becomes a family fixture just before the Germans show up again, taking him immediately back into the fold to help pull artillery. He’s soon caught up in another battle, one in which both the Germans and English suffer staggering casualties, and one in which Albert is present, fighting for his country just as he vowed to do once his horse was taken away to do the very same thing.

What Works?An awful lot. In the tradition of great epics, War Horse features stunning cinematography, heart-stopping action, moments of intimate character development, and across-the-board strong performances from a sprawling cast.

Janusz Kaminski’s camera works wonders, capturing glimpses of gorgeous countryside and terrifying battles, building suspense as characters hurry to find one another, following both people and animals as they try to hide from foes, and watching as desperate men both German and English struggle to accept the inevitability of their mortality. The violence in War Horse doesn’t come close to matching Spielberg’s iconic Private Ryan carnage, but what it lacks in bloody details it makes up for in shock, awe, and the grim reality of destructive war. The film’s great epic moment comes from a British officer (Benedict Cumberbatch) shouting “BE BRAVE” to his men before a head-on charge into enemy territory; another similar, but rather less-inspiring, moment comes when an officer in a trench cries “May God and the King watch over you” just before his men run out into No-Man’s Land. The pointlessness of that ‘encouragement’ is revealed a moment later, when the soldiers are blown to bits almost as soon as they step onto the battlefield. And one of the film’s most unforgettably shaking moments comes when Hiddleston’s officer realizes he and his men have hurried head-on into a fatal ambush—the actor’s expression, shocked and scared, will stay with you.

Basically, War Horse does about as well as Private Ryan at depicting the hopelessness and-dare I say it-pointlessness of war, in which many faceless men (and women) die, many of them without knowing why they’re even fighting. But this pointlessness is set aside in one critical late scene when a Brit (Toby Kebbell) and a German (Hinnerk Schonemann) work together to try and free Joey from tangles of barbed wire. Set aside whether or not such a spectacle is truly believable, and listen to the dialogue—“How are things over in your trench?” “Delightful.” And, when they part ways, the German says “just remember Peter, your friend from Dusseldorf!” It’s one of the most unique, beautiful movie moments I can think of, and one that gives you hope for the human race in a movie that points to some of our worst tendencies.

The battle scenes are what will probably stay with you, but there’s plenty of sublime material off the battlefield: scenes of Albert training Joey have a familiar but inspiring lift, Celine Buckens shines with youthful enthusiasm as a girl who unexpectedly finds Joey in her barn, feeds him, and tries to teach him to leap hurdles, and Emily Watson, as Albert’s mother, is perfect in a moment when she tries to explain to her son why his father drinks so much—and exactly what it is he’s trying to escape by drinking.

What Doesn’t Work?I’ve waxed poetic about War Horse’s ability to show war at its grittiest. It’s not quite as good at navigating more familiar waters about a family in dire straits, with nothing but a horse to hope in, and a textbook happy ending. As I mentioned, the last thirty minutes are a little too nice, a little overly-sentimental, so, despite the obvious emotional satisfaction (and our instinctive pleasure, as moviegoers, at seeing everything work out), it’s hard to not to question the legitimacy of what’s occurring onscreen. One of the only criticisms anyone’s ever had of Spielberg’s classic, Schindler’s List, was a late moment when Oskar Schindler broke down with regret and remorse at not saving more Jews—many thought it was a little too treacly, too much of an attempt to wring tears from the audience. Most of the last thirty minutes here have that feel. It doesn’t ruin War Horse, but it pushes the boundaries of believability a bit too far, and feels a bit too manufactured.

Content:I’m sure you can figure this out for yourself if you’ve read this far: War Horse features several full-scale battle scenes that aren’t particularly bloody but are frighteningly-intense. Throw in the animals-in-peril angle, and you’ve got a movie that is definitely not childproof. Beyond battles, however, the film is clean: there’s nary a swear word or sexual reference.

Bottom Line (I Promise):So very close to being flat-out amazing, War Horse is powerful, moving, and unforgettable, but an undercurrent of undeniable schmaltz rises up to take some of the air out of the third act. However, it’s still a very solid movie, made with love and care by the great director, Spielberg.

War Horse (2011)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis; Based on the book by Michael Morpurgo
Rated PG-13
Length: 146 minutes