War Horse film review

War Horse, Steven Spielberg’s film adaption of the 1982 book of the same name, by children’s writer Michael Morpurgo, is about a wonderful horse, Joey, that comes into the world in the years just before World War I and becomes the pride of a young English boy Albert Narracott. Albert’s father, a troubled veteran of the English Boar War in South Africa, has purchased the thoroughbred to plow his fields. Albert trains Joey and raises him, developing a friendship that transcends the troubled times they live through. Joey is taken from the tranquility of English farm in Devon to serve his masters through the hell of war. These early experiences are the foundation of Joey’s journey through the rest of movie.

The story is based on Morpurgo’s experiences in England with veterans from the First World War, who told him about the tragic loss of life of the horses in a war that transitioned from the traditional roles played by animals, to the mechanized destruction of modern war.

Spielberg was inspired by the2009 London Critic’s Circle Theatre Award winning production that featured horses played by Puppets created by the Handspring Puppet Company. The film’s story is told with real horses, the true stars of the film. Fourteen horses, trained by Bobby Lovgren, were used to play the main character through different times in his life. The film was awarded an ‘outstanding’ rating by the American Humane Society who was on the set at all times.

This is the noble steed’s story and Spielberg subtly uses angles that show this view. We will see a scene taking place, but will have shots moving back and forth between what we normally see and what the horse sees, to appreciate his view. We also should understand that the story is not only between the Horse Joey and the humans in his life. When Joey is purchased for the English Cavalry, he trains with another cavalry officer’s horse. Topthorn is the horse whom moves in and out of Joey’s life in ways meaningful to both of them.

National Velvet is still my favorite movie featuring a story about horses, but this is a wonderful film; challenging, because of the suffering to both animals and humans in the darkness of war, but uplifting in the hope that it gives.

April Fools

Well, it is the end of the day today and we all seem to have made it through without getting into too much trouble I hope. The basic research of web sites about the origins for this day of foolery doesn’t particularly reveal too much, though it does go back in time.

New Years used to be celebrated starting on March 25 and going on until April 1. References are given to the change of the calendar in France in 1582 under the reign of Charles IX, when New Years was changed to January 1st. Some people missed the change and continued to party on April 1st, (we would probably look up to them today… what Fools are these?).

There are several other explanations that have to do with the arrival of spring (we start getting foolish though in early February chasing around ground hogs in the middle of winter) but they don’t seem quite as satisfying as the French one. The important question is, does it really make any difference and why do we still do it?

We need time during the year to blow off a little steam, relieve some of the pressures of everyday life, turn things upside down- have some fun and then get back to work. If we can work it into the regular calendar of events it legitimizes it and people are less likely to do crazy things out of the blue that can be more destructive..unless you live in Hollywood.

April 1st isn’t the only time of year we get to have fun, Halloween, New Years Eve, and Mardi Gras are all similar kinds of events when we can dress up, drink too much, drink too much and dance around, and now play pranks on each other. These, like other holidays help give some meaning and order to the year, we measure time by these events, talk about them with our friends “remember the time when we…” and pass along traditions to our children.

So have a good time, but check the back of your shirt today for a “Kick me I’m stupid” sign (did you really turn around and look?). Did you know that the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Eat the traditional spaghetti dinner tonight!

Everything is new again

Popular Culture is most of all commercial; it is what sells in society. It is familiar; we are consciences of it without thinking about it at all. What sold last year is usually expected to be what sells this year. Innovations occur in our creative attempts to make more money and satisfy the needs of people to be “up on the latest trends” and we get the Chia Obama figurine ‘http://www.chia.com/’.

Right now it is the Jonas Bros, but they are certainly not the first ‘boy band’ to come along life’s highway and if there aren’t the last will anybody be surprised! Is any ‘boy band’ just a group of wonderfully talented kids that get together to play music sing some songs and then every kid in the country comes along to spend big bucks to fill arena’s. Miley Cyrus is the soon to be too old to be teen idol that rocks the teen world. She isn’t the first and will not be last… probably … to fill our television screens and music mediums, and eventually tabloid covers. Miley and the Jonas boys are both creations of the Disney entertainment machine and as long as we are living in a society that values youth and has the money to spend someone will be out there to make the business move.

The ‘times they are a changing’ and nothing is inevitable. The stock market didn’t keep going up no matter what we did, Popular Culture will change to reflect the times though, our Zeitgeist! What trends might be lingering in the simmering world of folk culture that will suddenly become today’s hot trend in popular culture? Will the Jonas brothers or Miley cool down and go on to great carriers on the stage, cinema or some new medium; movie into the world of elite culture or will the fade away into the dusty bin of history to be some future story in ‘whatever happened to late night program…?’ Producer director Ron Howard was always just cute little ol’ Opie Taylor son of the Mayberry Sheriff Andy Taylor.

Why do we see things like this, what does it say about our society.

If it walks like a duck...

"If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck” proverb

On March 4th a financial reporter for CNBC, Rick Santelli decided to take on the Obama economic stimulus bill with a rant on the stock exchange trading floor, was suppose to make an appearance on The Daily Show with John Stewart. He didn’t. Steward responded to the no-show by Santelli, by doing a critical review of CNBC’s financial reporting and it wasn’t pretty. Examples were pulled from reports that gave a positive spin to stories about companies about to implode, with a follow- up that highlighted the implosion which took place days or weeks later. The emperor’s new clothes were revealed. The financial news isn’t news, it is entertainment, and now it seems that CNBC is having a hard time facing the facts. Jim Cramer, the expert analyst has been called upon to defend himself and the network.

On March 12th a follow up program was aired that featured Stewart and Cramer across the desk from each other. I have to give both individuals a great deal of credit. Cramer is on the hot seat for much of the show and without having to say too much, seems to acknowledge that the network he is standing in for missed important opportunities to ask tougher questions and do a better job of doing real reporting, educating the public, and not just playing the part of selling snake oil for the traveling medicine show. Stewart was excellent in asking the tough questions a reporter should be asking and supporting his points with timely visuals.

Is the Daily Show news or entertainment? It doesn’t call itself news, it is a timely program of entertainment that parodies the news, but it’s honesty about itself is what has given it the credibility that is lacking in so many programs that do call themselves news. There is a lot of time to fill on the many cable networks that now come into our lives. News programming should be based on honestly reporting the facts, entertainment tells stories that we like to hear, sometimes they make us laugh, sometimes they make us cry, and sometimes they make us afraid and want to go and hide, any way you look at it we love them but they are still entertainment.

It used to be that Stewart was one of the most trusted national reporters and was a ‘go to source’ for political news during the election campaigns, now the Comedy show is becoming the source for explaining the ups and downs of the economy as well.

Is it a duck, or is it not a duck?

Times for Change

Time is measured in the rhythms of our lives, the beating of the heart, the rising and setting of the sun and the tides, or the pulsing atoms that drive a digital time piece. They all take place without any effort on our part. The part we play is in the rituals that we build around these acts of nature. These sacred actions that we conscientiously create to circumscribe our lives. Some of these are our personal acts; some are actions in the community.

One we recognize this weekend, one goes generally unnoticed. We will ‘spring’ forward, a congressionally designated change of time originally promoted by Ben Franklin but now updated by three weeks to save energy. Many people will go through the ritual of updating all their programmable gadgets, grumbling but accepting the minor inconvenience for the public good. We go along with it because we get to stay out a little later at night in the summer time, a worthy sacrifice in ‘the grand scheme of things’.

The same day this year will also be International Women’s Day. It will pass by again, women in America going unacknowledged for their contributions to society. Originally proposed in 1910 by Clara Zetkin at a conference for working women in Denmark at a time when most women in the world did not have the right to vote, it was adopted and celebrated around the world starting in 1911. We have Mother’s Day to recognize women for the contributions they make to the family. Do we need to recognize all that women do in our society and around the world in countries where they lack the rights that they have here? Should women only be valued in terms of child bearing and rearing?

How we use and measure our time, are an important indicator of values that are important to a culture. What are you doing March 8th?

March, In like a lion...

In like a lion and out like a lamb, this is how the month of March is often described. A month of transitions; from winter to spring. It is also the month the covers the astrological sign of Pieces, two fish swimming in opposite directions. This year has certainly lived up to expectations.

Very cold weather, an unusual snow storm extending from the Atlantic Deep South to New England opened the month. I expect that this might lead us to believe that we will have a very mild and possibly early spring despite what some small town rodent in Pennsylvania leads us to believe.

March Madness isn’t about the weather, but it is about transitions. The end of the college basketball season and hints of opening play at the ‘ball park’. The month has just started bracket bantering has already begun. The final buzzer that ends the season hasn’t been heard and already the talk is about whom will toss out the first pitch at the new Shea Stadium.

The market went down faster than the thermometer this winter but it is March now and who knows what will happen, did the market also come in like a lion and will it too go out like a lamb?