War Horse - Review

Now for Steven Spielberg, it is two for two. WAR HORSE is his absolute best film in quite awhile. Like his some of his other counterparts this year, he has presented a giant mixing pot of past films and their ideas with the traditional Spielberg trademarks added in for flavor. It is pure old school, from the John Ford-like construction to its stylish displays of violence that would have Sergei Eisenstein and David O. Selznick applauding. It also is deliberately hackneyed with its massive frothing of melodrama yet it has no shame. All of these come together to make one damn fine emotional movie, surely able to break out the tears and tissues.


On its surface, the film simply follows the life of a part-Thoroughbred horse, from his early life as "Joey" in Devon, England, to his constant trading of hands in WWI-era France, either as a tool for the English and German military or as a pet for a French girl. However, as the film unfolds and stated plainly in its transcendentally beautiful ending, it is about how warfare makes everyone and everything a tool, humbling them into absolute quietness. Having its main protagonist be a horse amplifies this point considerably in order to exploit the viewer.


I do not hate Spielberg for his exploitation of a horse in constant peril or of men in battle. That is really one of key factors of what makes film so great; to rip your mind to shreds with excitement and fear for maximum engagement. Spielberg does to World War I combat what he did to World War II in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Except, like the aura and current status of World War I in pop culture, he accurately displays why people don't talk about it often or even make works around it. This was a nightmarish time where trench warfare was the textbook example of insanity and where human class and respect ironically shook hands with bloodshed.


With the PRIVATE RYAN comparison, some snobs might cry out self-plagiarism, saving the plagiarism charge for the film's liberal use of ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT imagery along with one of the latter film's iconic subplots involving a separate object. I didn't mind these possible complaints or anything else because I was witnessing the Spielberg experience again. I was amazed by Janusz Kaminski's striking cinematography and the musical movements of John Williams. I liked how Spielberg kept the audience on its toes, always playing with them and waiting to invoke terror and despair on his characters. He took advantage of my emotions and was able to reciprocate it with an immense gift.



FINAL REVIEW: 5 / 5