War Horse (2011)

Director: Steven Spielberg                        Writers: Lee Hall & Richard Curtis
Film Score: John Williams                        Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski
Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emily Watson and David Kross

War Horse is an odd little film. At first I was excited to learn it was set during the First World War, as I have studied extensively about World War I and there are precious few good films about it. The Lost Battalion is about the best, but that’s already twelve years old. And with Steven Spielberg at the helm I was delighted. But then I learned that the story was from a children’s book by Michael Morpurgo and as soon as I began watching it the film reminded me of a cross between Babe and The Black Stallion.

Normally Spielberg is a maestro, waving his baton and tugging at our emotions like an expert conductor, telling us when to cry and then making it happen. But in War Horse his attempts fall flat, and from my perspective the problem is really the source material. There is just too much deus ex machina to allow for emotional investment. It’s like an equine Apocalypto. And in that sense the story is too pat, too predictable for the empathy that Spielberg is trying to elicit. As a result, the story of the horse, Joey, is more frustrating than anything else, especially when he is given near-human understanding in some situations but not in others. Spielberg’s at his best during the war scenes, but that doesn’t happen until halfway through the film and by then it’s too late. And at the end of the film he tries for a Gone With the Wind type orange sky silhouette scene, but by then, that’s too late too.

I’ll tell you right now that I’m not an animal person, but that shouldn’t matter. I absolutely loved Never Cry Wolf and Hidalgo, films where animals were central to the plot, but did not depend on them for the emotional impact of the story. I think that’s always been a problem for me. But the worst part about the film is being left imagining what could have been done with the premise, a rewrite that focused on the horse himself, in a natural way that allowed the viewer to empathize with Joey as the protagonist instead of the people around him, following him as he navigated a war that took the lives of countless horses in addition to people. Now THAT would have been a great World War I story.