War Horse (2012) ***

Starring;

Jeremy Irvine

Emily Watson

Peter Mullan

Benedict Cumberbatch

David Thewlis

Director;

Steven Spielberg

In three words; Nice – Gripping - Emotional

Plot;

A struggling farmer buys a horse to assist in ploughing his land. The horse is trained by the farmer’s son and an unbreakable friendship is made with the two. However, when war breaks out the horse is sold to the army to be used on the front line. We follow the horse through his time at war along with his original owner attempting to find him.

Review;

Set in Devon just before the start of The Great War, War Horse follows the journey of a horse called Joey. He is bought at a local market by Ted Narracott (Mullan) who out bids his landlord (Lyons) with whom he is already struggling to pay his rent. It is therefore imperative that the horse can assist in the day to day running of the farm. Albert (Irvine) takes on the task of training Joey and soon they build up a remarkable friendship between boy and beast.

Spielberg shot the film in Devon over the summer months in 2010. However, I can’t help but feel he had an issue with lighting the set. Perhaps the British ‘summer’ didn’t give him the light he was searching for. There are a number of occasions on the Narracott farm where additional lights and reflectors have given some scenes and overly warm feel. It is not since Minority Report that I have questioned Sir Stevie’s abilities where he underexposed the film to facilitate in creating a more futuristic feel, which didn’t work!

Perhaps he wanted the extra lighting on the farm in order to create a contrast between the scenes at war. This is achieved however, at the expense of overly lit unnecessary scenes.

Joey is sold to the British Army at the outbreak of the First World War much to the dismay of Albert who by now and a strong relationship to his horse. He is however assured by army officer that if he can he will bring Joey back to him.

Joey is taken across mainland Europe and ends up in the hands of the Germans and then a young French girl. All the time he has Ted’s regimental pennant attached to his reins which was given to him by Albert. There are two wonderful scenes in no mans lands, one of which is reminiscent of the Christmas Day football match. These scenes are powerful and are brilliantly executed by Spielberg. War is a difficult subject to portray in a family film but I feel that Spielberg was on the money with these scenes. Not actually hitting the Saving Private Ryan standard but not far off.

War Horse is Spielberg’s adaptation of the book and very successful stage show of the same name. There were concerns that there would be a difficulty in transforming the story from the stage to the silver screen. I haven’t seen the stage show but the overall reaction has been very positive regarding the puppetry and the relationship with the actors and the horses. And I can say that the relationship between Albert and Joey is wonderful, gripping and emotional.

This is a nice film, not a great endorsement but for me the lighting on the farm let it down along with Richard Curtis on screenplay duties. Curtis is notoriously unable to portray anything other than nice!  

Verdict;

3 out of 5.