Review: War Horse

Well, here’s the obligatory review for War Horse, having watched it not too long ago.

Before starting I should probably point out that I have neither the read the book or seen the stage play.

Oh and SPOILER ALERT!

My thoughts on War Horse are, to say the least, complicated. Much of this is probably due to the fact that every time I go to the cinema I usually know what I’m going to see a few days in advance. In those few days I can formulate a good impression of the film, what it will be like, genre, plot, perhaps even some early spoiler-free opinions from critics and such (i.e. Mark Kermode). Going to see War Horse was different – it was very much a spur of the moment kinda thing.

Therefore, the only fleeting glimpse I managed to gain before seeing it was that it was going to be sad. Very sad. Sob in the cinema sad. Now I wouldn’t say my heart is made of stone, but its strings certainly aren’t as ‘tuggable’ as others which ultimately meant there were no boo-hoo’s from me. In fact, I eventually skipped past the ‘sad’ state and galloped straight into the disgusted and/or bored.

Why? Well let me explain – War Horse isn’t a family film by any means at all. The BBFC gave it a 12A? Pfft, that means nothing! This film is a depressing rollercoaster of misery and wretchedness with each twist and turn and loop de loop causing another convulsion of pity so that by the end of it you’re overwhelmed with supposed sadness rendering you an emotionless robotic machine.

Y’see, I’ve always thought to gain a sense of sadness, you need balance. An audience needs to invest in the good times of a character (at least times when they aren’t about to die or lose their farm) before anything bad happens. That way, when the bad stuff does happen, its juxtaposition is heightened. The contrast between good and bad, happy and sad is clearer to the audience and the overall effect is strengthened through this.

Let’s put it this way, I have two videos to show you. One is of a little mouse being wholly digested by a snake. The other is a video of a mouse spinning on a wheel, nibbling on a hazelnut, running around in a little ball and then being wholly digested by a snake. Which of the two would make you feel sadder? Perhaps not even sad, just more emotionally invested?

If your answer is the first one then you are wrong – you lose, you get NOTHING!

The clear (and correct) answer to that question was the latter. To see the positive times of a mouse be dissolved away by the acidic stomach juices of a serpent isn’t very nice and because we know what the mouse was like beforehand, it makes his death even more tragic. To just see a video of a mouse being eaten is kinda gross and disgusting and most people would just turn away and not want to watch it.

Well, for me, that was War Horse. The fact that War Horse is a children’s book makes it even stranger – oh Michael Morpurgo, you devilish fiend! The constant barrage of woe was brought to the forefront by the episodic nature of the film as the horse travels around Europe bringing death and destruction with it (though the First World War helped in that respect).  Throughout we meet an array of different characters, Albert of course, but also a British general, two teenage German brothers, a French grandfather and his granddaughter. They each have their own ‘episode’ though I must admit; these episodes are even more miserable and deadly than one of Eastenders! You need proof? Sure, let me list what happens to each –

• Albert – Loses his horse to the war, has to then fight in the war (including Somme), sees his Devonian friend disappear in a cloud of poisonous gas and die, suffer temporary blindness due to said gas. And I’m guessing here, but will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder for the rest of his life.
• British General – Starts writing a letter to Albert to tell him how Joey (the horse) is doing but before finishing has to fight in a mounted charge towards German machine guns. Have you heard of the phrase ‘never bring a knife to a gunfight’? If so you can guess what happens next.
• Two teenage German brothers – The older brother stops the younger (and underage) brother from fighting in a battle and hence has to desert the war camp. Hide in a windmill from the army, get found – are shot.
• French grandfather and granddaughter – Their home is ransacked by the army, granddaughter dies. Old man has to live alone for the rest of his life.

Right, I think I’ve made my point on that subject. Believe it not there were some things I liked about the film. For example the battle scenes, though ‘romanticised’ in Spielberg’s own words, were still shocking and brutal. Of course there was no blood or limbs flying a la Saving Private Ryan, but it’s a good example of how such horrific scenes can still be intense without the need for gore.

I also liked the acting for the most part though the main character, Albert played by Jeremy Irvine, did have some cringe-worthy horse whisperer scenes. My favourite character has to be the malicious landlord played by David Thewlis, because he was Lupin and once again, holds to his face a wonderful moustache. In fact, War Horse in general had a glorious assortment of moustaches so if you’re an aficionado; you have that to look forward to.

There are many feelings, thoughts and concerns I had when watching the film that I’ve quite clearly forgot, but my overall opinion is that it leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth. Now many can argue that you have to face horrible moments throughout life and films should not ignore these emotions just because they aren’t all sunshine and happiness and puppies and rainbows. I agree, films are a reflection of humanity's cultures, history, personalities etc and let me tell you a lot of that isn’t pretty, but at the same time films should be entertaining. Entertaining not in the sense that it leaves you feeling happy, but entertaining in a sense that you go through a film and come out of the other side feeling satisfied, even if the overwhelming emotion is sadness. For example someone could see a film about a horrible subject, say…rape and come out of the cinema feeling glad they went through that.  I didn’t feel satisfied and after the pull of the strings by the film to make me feel sad (many movie-goers didn’t like the amount of manipulation by War Horse in order to provoke sorrow), I instead wished I’d never seen the film at all.