I’ve always been a sucker for a good horse movie, and anything
directed by Steven Spielberg usually piques my interest, so even though
I generally avoid war movies, 2011’s War Horse had been on my
radar for a while. I got to watch it this week after my aunt gave it to
us, proclaiming it an excellent film, and while there were moments I
couldn’t watch what was unfolding on the screen, I would have to agree.
The movie begins in rural England, where stubborn farmer Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) spends more money than he has on a horse unlikely to be suited to the crucial task of plowing his field. The animal is beautiful, however, and had already been admired as a colt by Ted’s gentle, idealistic son Albert (Jeremy Irvine). The boy vows to train the horse and teach him to plow the field, the harvest from which is the only thing standing between the Narracotts and financial ruin. The horse, who he names Joey, is wild and restless, but he and the boy bond deeply and spend a blissful summer together. Then, disaster strikes, and the adventure begins.
Nearly the first hour of the movie is placid and fairly light-hearted, marked by gorgeous expanses of green English land and tender moments of companionship between boy and horse. However, when a failed harvest leads Ted to sell Joey to the cavalry in the early days of World War I, much to Albert’s fury, the tone changes – not instantly, but after a few minutes, with the charge of a German camp. From that point forward, the movie becomes much darker, with moments of light as Joey meets with various kind-hearted individuals who recognize his superlative spirit.
Albert is the main human protagonist, though we leave him for long stretches of time while we follow Joey’s progress as he keeps changing hands and witnesses the horrors of war from a horse’s-eye view. Irvine, starring in his first feature film, makes Albert deeply sympathetic, and Emily Watson brings a no-nonsense but compassionate edge to the role of his mother Rose. Mullan is by turns endearingly daft and frighteningly cold, while David Thewlis evokes ire as his obnoxious long-time rival. Other characters come and go fairly quickly, each leaving a significant mark, particularly Niels Arestrup as a doting grandfather who encounters Joey midway through the movie.
The film is beautifully shot and directed, and we truly feel the plight of the countless horses conscripted into service and made to face barrages of bullets and backbreaking labor tugging artillery. We see this especially through the first horse Joey meets in the army, a black stallion who isn’t nearly as clever or strong as Joey, who looks after him. Even as we root for Joey to defy all the odds to reunite with Albert and return home in peace after the war, the carnage of human and horse alike that swirls around him is devastating.
The movie has a slightly fanciful quality to it as Joey has so many close brushes with calamity in the most hostile of environments, but Spielberg still shows the ugliness of war quite plainly. Several scenes are downright heartbreaking, and as Joey finds himself on both sides of the conflict at various points, we feel the Germans’ pain just as acutely and see their humanity. As the movie is rated PG-13, the violence is toned down somewhat, but there are still grotesque moments aplenty, even if they aren’t as graphic as Saving Private Ryan. He certainly couldn’t be accused of making war look glamorous.
This isn’t the kind of movie I’d be likely to watch repeatedly, but it is an excellent film that is both touching and horrifying. While it’s not based on a true story, it is rooted in a very specific historical situation and therefore has educational as well as entertainment value. Though it covers rougher territory than many films exploring the bond between human and animal, the journey Spielberg asks viewers to take is an important one with a bittersweet conclusion emphasizing the power of love in the midst of unbearable pain.
The movie begins in rural England, where stubborn farmer Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) spends more money than he has on a horse unlikely to be suited to the crucial task of plowing his field. The animal is beautiful, however, and had already been admired as a colt by Ted’s gentle, idealistic son Albert (Jeremy Irvine). The boy vows to train the horse and teach him to plow the field, the harvest from which is the only thing standing between the Narracotts and financial ruin. The horse, who he names Joey, is wild and restless, but he and the boy bond deeply and spend a blissful summer together. Then, disaster strikes, and the adventure begins.
Nearly the first hour of the movie is placid and fairly light-hearted, marked by gorgeous expanses of green English land and tender moments of companionship between boy and horse. However, when a failed harvest leads Ted to sell Joey to the cavalry in the early days of World War I, much to Albert’s fury, the tone changes – not instantly, but after a few minutes, with the charge of a German camp. From that point forward, the movie becomes much darker, with moments of light as Joey meets with various kind-hearted individuals who recognize his superlative spirit.
Albert is the main human protagonist, though we leave him for long stretches of time while we follow Joey’s progress as he keeps changing hands and witnesses the horrors of war from a horse’s-eye view. Irvine, starring in his first feature film, makes Albert deeply sympathetic, and Emily Watson brings a no-nonsense but compassionate edge to the role of his mother Rose. Mullan is by turns endearingly daft and frighteningly cold, while David Thewlis evokes ire as his obnoxious long-time rival. Other characters come and go fairly quickly, each leaving a significant mark, particularly Niels Arestrup as a doting grandfather who encounters Joey midway through the movie.
The film is beautifully shot and directed, and we truly feel the plight of the countless horses conscripted into service and made to face barrages of bullets and backbreaking labor tugging artillery. We see this especially through the first horse Joey meets in the army, a black stallion who isn’t nearly as clever or strong as Joey, who looks after him. Even as we root for Joey to defy all the odds to reunite with Albert and return home in peace after the war, the carnage of human and horse alike that swirls around him is devastating.
The movie has a slightly fanciful quality to it as Joey has so many close brushes with calamity in the most hostile of environments, but Spielberg still shows the ugliness of war quite plainly. Several scenes are downright heartbreaking, and as Joey finds himself on both sides of the conflict at various points, we feel the Germans’ pain just as acutely and see their humanity. As the movie is rated PG-13, the violence is toned down somewhat, but there are still grotesque moments aplenty, even if they aren’t as graphic as Saving Private Ryan. He certainly couldn’t be accused of making war look glamorous.
This isn’t the kind of movie I’d be likely to watch repeatedly, but it is an excellent film that is both touching and horrifying. While it’s not based on a true story, it is rooted in a very specific historical situation and therefore has educational as well as entertainment value. Though it covers rougher territory than many films exploring the bond between human and animal, the journey Spielberg asks viewers to take is an important one with a bittersweet conclusion emphasizing the power of love in the midst of unbearable pain.
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