Review 50: War Horse
Based on the novel War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, Joey is a colt who is bought at an auction by a farmer Ted Narracott (Peter Mullen) and is raised by his teen son named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) who both grow to be best friends and after a few years he is sold to the army for World War I, and the film then follows the Joeys journey as he meets many different people and hopes to return to Albert one day. Along Joeys journey he meets many new people and experiences which forms him to be a very brave and heroic horse that will do anything to return to his owner and best friend.
The plot is beautifully told work epic war saga. It stays true to the book and retains its spirit. It tugs at your heartstrings and how it translates so well to screen and is as emotionally affecting as it is is truly a testament to the writing talents of writers, Richard Curtis & Lee Hall as well as Morpurgo's talents as an author.
This film finds Spielberg revisiting themes from his prior films E. T. and Saving Private Ryan and I mean that in the sense that this is a film about War and Friendship.
is so brilliant you feel the emotion for what is going on and you really care about Joey and Albert. In
War: With War Horse, Spielberg is able to portray war in a completely different light and he achieves that by showing war from the perspective of Joey
Friendship: The friendship between Joey and Albert is one of the most powerful relationships in a movie and stretches so far across this film. There are separated by the necessity of the war and their parts to play
Steven Spielberg's direction is sharp, the cinematography is gorgeous and captures the beauty of the English countryside in 1912 as well as the grim nature of war torn France and Germany. The production design (recreating England, France and Germany in the 1910's) is breathtaking, the costumes are majestic, the score is one of John Williams is beautifully spectacular, the battle scenes are brutal and convincingly coney the horrors of No Mans Land and the locations are wonderful.
This film surly contains some of best scenery ever shown in a Spielberg film, he makes full usage of the European countryside both before and during WWI.
The acting was sensational, Jeremy Irvine (in a breakout performance) delivers an and earnest performance as Albert
Emily Watson & Peter Mullen
David Thewlis
The film also contains two very noteworthy performances from both Tom Hiddleston & Benedict Cumberbatch as Cap. James Nicholls and Maj. Jamie Stewart respectively. Nicholls is the first in a very long line of people to own Joey during the war, buying him from Albert's family when they are forced to sell him to the army.
My highest praise, however has to goes to the horse (or millions of horses) who played Joey, he deserved the Oscar for Best Horse. The whole film is told from Joey's perspective.
Spielberg effectively conveys what the war would look like from a nonhuman POV.
Joey doesn't understand war, he doesn't know friend from foe, he doesn't take sides or view on side as better than the other. He has a very neutral perspective on the whole war.
Because of this, Spielberg is able to show WWI from the different POVs of the Allies, the Axies and people just trying to survive on both sides. Joey touches the hearts of all the people he comes across be it children, Germans, English people. We grow to care for practically every single character Joey meets on his epic journey.
War Horse is a beautiful adaptation of a book that is a childhood favorite of mine, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic
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