War Horse Review

War Horse Review

War Horse is made of everything that shouldn’t work in a modern film but somehow it does and it does it so well that you’ll find yourself breaking in tears by the time the credits are rolling at the end of the film. Every element of the film just shouldn’t work but in many ways they do despite all the negative feedback that one could draw just on the premise of the film. In short War Horse is conceptually a bad old film that polished itself so well on every possible angle that it shines like a brand new trophy.

The premise of War Horse is exactly what you would expect right from the title: it is a period film set during World War I about a horse that gets caught in between enemy lines as a weapon of war. Remember that during the era of the First World War destructive vehicles were not yet popular; in fact the machine gun was still the height of military technology. In this period horses are still used for military cavalry and the experiences of one such horse is the primary concern of the film. The horse that steals the spotlight here is named Joey. Joey, a thoroughbred racing horse, is bought by a poor rundown family that needed a plough horse. Despite the odds the horse is trained to handle reins and working on the field. Unfortunately World War I breaks out and the horse is sold for military uses, against the wishes of the owner’s son who has grown a strong bond with the animal. Joey will go through both sides of the war, first being deployed under the French until he is captured and used by the Germans. After a short moment of reprieve he finds himself on British soil and gets caught in a no-man’s land in the dead center of the war. This culminates to a heart-breaking moment where the warring sides take a moment off the battlefield to free Joey from a tangle of barbwire’s. It may all sound ridiculous and in truth it all is but it would be a bit of an inhuman shock if you aren’t emotionally touched after seeing the movie.

Yes there are human characters that propel the plot, mostly in Jeremy Irvine’s character Albert, but Joey the war horse is the main focus of the plot. It is true that the film focuses a lot on portraying the cruelty done to animals during war and the majority of the narrative is through Joey’s point of view but the main point nonetheless of the film is to give a solid depiction of World War I and the nonchalant relationship bonding a boy and his pet. Using one plot point to give the audience of another is usually a narrative style used in much older films that, during their era, could not directly portray the ideals and message that they intended. The mere idea of such a narrative take is what one would find in a film better suited for the 1960’s or the 1980’s and by all technicalities this should not work today. How does it work? The answer lies with the director, Steven Spielberg.

Steven Spielberg directing this film is what made all the individual pieces come together for War Horse to function as a fluid, modern movie. Every camera angle, every swoop down to the action, every shot, every cut to each major character is filled with enough drama and emotion that you cannot help but feel for these characters, Joey most of all. Spielberg has mastered has to use what story and characters he has with the technology given to him to touch the inner child in every viewer. By giving the audience a deeper relationship with Albert and Joey one cannot help but feel concerned for the animal throughout the course of the film. If at any case you might be shouting with tears blurring your vision: “Why won’t they just let the poor animal go home?” By that time you know are invested in this film.

War Horse is a film made of disastrous individual pieces that somehow manages to work together as a masterpiece and it wouldn’t work otherwise. Steven Spielberg once again proves why he is a veteran in film making. If you were to compare this with any other film, War Horse is a modern redrawing of Schindler’s List, another Spielberg classic. It just works that well. This movie review grants War Horse four and a half stars out of five.