★
There is one word to describe Stephen Spielberg's 'War Horse' : beautiful. The beautiful horses cantering around endless rolling fields. The beautiful silhouettes of Albert Narracott, played by Jeremy Irvine, his family and the 'War Horse', Joey, in front of a conveniently placed sunset, giving the whole scene a golden-butter glow, reminiscent of the opening scene of The Lion King. Even the horrific shots of soldiers scrambling and scampering through murky no-man's-land with the earth rupturing around them are beautiful.
Perhaps the most moving shot of them all- vintage Spielberg- is a German firing squad take aim at two young German brothers who attempted to run away beside a windmill, and as a sail passes slowly in front of the lens, we hear a crack of gunfire amid the darkness. A second later, there lie two bodies on the floor- the blunt impact of war displayed in a frighteningly subtle way. Another grave off-camera death involves the soldier who acquires Joey during the war- we see tearful dread in his eyes followed by the last thing he sees- a bullet leaving a gun. Then we see Joey galloping past the Germans, his rider missing. Spielberg truly is an expert at ruthlessly taking advantage of the emotions of his audience- the less you see, the more the horror is intensified by the imagination.
Yes, War Horse is beautiful, but it is by no means perfect. The problem is that the film seems to love itself almost as much as Albert loves Joey, and it's not just the panoramic shots of rolling Devon hills that are expansive- the film itself feels overly long. That's the problem with beautiful things- they love to be indulged. Many scenes felt sluggish and although the horses have been tamed, it is the over-sentimentality that needs to reined in. The heart of the stage production came in its simplicity, with sketches projected onto the backdrop and a puppet for a horse, something that Hollywood, with it's $66 million budget, is too superfluous to understand.
However, here is some spectacular acting, particularly from the horse, who steals the show with a high paced action scene galloping through the trenches and getting caught up in barbed wire in no-man's-land. The audience in my cinema gasped and scrunched up their faces in pain as if being intermittently punched by sympathy every time he charged through the wire, and became more and more tangled. The best moments are when film really relaxes and stops trying to squeeze out the tears from its audience, for example when a British and German soldier work together to untangle Joey. It shows the futility of World War, and how despite the bitter animosity and tension, shared sympathy for the animal's situation brings co-operation.
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| Jeremy Irvine as Albert Narracott with Joey |
I have to admit came away from War Horse feeling the same as I do when leaving a extravagant restaurant. It's very expensive, service is sometimes slow, and I went away feeling a little bloated with over-sentimentality; the sense that I'd just experienced something a little to ostentatious, owing to the supersaturated colouring in certain scenes (yes, Sunset, that means you). That said, it's undeniable that, at the time, whilst being indulged by the rich flavours of it all, it tasted pretty good.
....So, there you have it.. what did you think of War Horse and more importantly my review? Please leave reviews of my review below. I'll admit, the main reason I went to see it was to see Benedict Cumberbatch, who's my favourite actor, but I didn't think that was appropriate for an 'intellectual review' . Plus he was only in it for about 15 minutes! Ah well, see you round
BL x
