Today’s quick review: War Horse. Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), a stubborn English farmer, takes a chance when he buys Joey, a smart and spirited horse. Ted’s son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) trains Joey and becomes his close friend. But when war breaks out with Germany, hard times force Ted to sell the horse to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), a cavalry officer, who takes Joey into German-occupied France and the heart of the fighting.
War Horse is a war drama from director Steven Spielberg. The movie follows a British farm horse on a winding journey through World War I as he is passed from owner to owner. War Horse shows the impact of the war from a variety of angles, through the eyes of the soldiers and civilians who cross paths with Joey. The movie manages to tell a sweet story with some good emotional moments, but its unconventional story structure will not suit everyone.
War Horse combines the subject matter of a war movie with the tone of a family drama. Wherever Joey goes, he finds people who care about him and treat him as a beloved friend, even amidst hardship and close calls. While his direct contribution to the war is modest, he serves as an inspiration to the people around him. This injects an otherwise bleak war story with a ray of hope, turning it into not just a tale of suffering but one of survival.
The one major sticking point is that, at the end of the day, Joey is just a horse. He serves as an emotional anchor for the film and ties together the otherwise unrelated war vignettes that make up the story, but he cannot drive the action on his own. The movie has to make Joey worth caring about while keeping his role in the events around him realistic. This is a difficult balance to achieve, and there are times when the movie plays up Joey too much.
How much you get out of War Horse will depend on your ability to invest in Joey’s harrowing journey. The movie does have some triumphant moments that justify the audience’s investment, as well as tragic ones that do justice to the hardness of World War I. But a viewer who can’t latch onto Joey the way the movie intends will find the story disjointed and overly sentimental. Try it if you’re interested in a war movie that’s not as hopeless as some others.
For a World War I story with excellent cinematography and a more focused plot, try 1917. For a more harrowing drama about war from the British perspective, try Dunkirk. For a more violent war and iconic war drama from Steven Spielberg, try Saving Private Ryan.
7.2 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for solid craftsmanship and a few of triumphant moments.