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.