Secondhand Reviews: "War Horse"

Rated PG-13 for war violence.

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Stephen Spielberg gave us one of the genuine powerhouse war movies of all time in "Schindler's List". He came mighty close to repeating that feat with "Saving Private Ryan". And now we have "War Horse", a World War I epic that's nominated for a ton and a half (or so) of different Oscars this year. So what should we expect? As it happens, a quite decent movie with many impressive moments that, even so, isn't quite on the same level as those two.

It's the story of a young farm lad, Albert (Jeremy Irvine) whose beloved horse is commandeered for combat use during World War I. Albert swears to his horse (yes, to his horse, I'm not making this up) that whatever happens he will find him and bring him back home when the war is over. But this may prove more difficult than he thought, because as a result of the kind of confusion and chaos you can expect during a war, the horse's SECOND owner (following Albert) gives way to a third, and a fourth, and so on, as the horse passes from one rider to another, one side in the war to another, as we watch the insanity that is war through the horse's perspective.

Now, let me get this straight: Spielberg still has an amazing talent for scenes that give us powerful perspectives on war that may never have occurred to us. The PG-13 rating of this film (as distinguished from the R given to both "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan") means he can't be as graphic and explicit about the bloodshed of war, and as a result we get "substitutes" for graphic blood that are sometimes all the stronger (I'm thinking in particular of a shot of the riderless horse fairly early in the film). He works into the combat sequences a brief segment where soldiers from both sides cooperate to rescue the horse, which is caught in some barbed wire, that remind us that what we have in common is far more significant than our differences, even in wartime. So do not let it be said that he has lost his touch.

However, when it comes right down to it, as much as the movie shows us SCENES of war, in the end it almost doesn't really feel like it's all that much ABOUT war. It feels more like a less family-oriented version of those "Incredible Journey" movies... it's about a young man and his horse and how their connection is so strong that nothing can separate them, not even warring armies. Yes, there have been some entertaining movies of that sort, but they haven't been all that earth shaking: it's a subject that doesn't exactly change the world the war a war does. And when Albert tells his horse "No matter what happens, I will find you"... I'm sorry, but I almost couldn't help chuckling remembering Daniel Day-Lewis's almost identical speech in "The Last Of The Mohicans", and imagining him saying it to a horse.

Jeremy Irvine as Albert broods pretty well, but doesn't seem to have much range as an actor. A lot of famous names are featured briefly but never really make much impact (not that their scenes give them much opportunity to). And after a while, the restrictions imposed on the violence by the PG-13 rating do have their negative effects, and too many combat sequences resort to the kind of bloodless, non-graphic way war used to be filmed: a distant shot of a soldier getting hit, no blood at all, he falls down immediately... no real harm done. War isn't like that, of course, and it is a LITTLE disappointing to see it treated that way by a film maker who has had so much of such great impact to say about it in the past.

But the cinematography is absolutely astounding, perhaps the best of any movie this year. There are those highly creative ways of dealing with war before the rating finally grinds it down. And while it might not be all that earth-shaking, the man and his horse story might just leave a tear or two in your eyes by the end. So I would definitely give the film a "thumbs up" and recommend it. I just wouldn't say that it's Spielberg's... or anyone else's... strongest statement on this subject. And that really doesn't have anything to do with the way the musical score doesn't trust you to feel emotions on your own, but keeps hitting you over the head with exactly how you're supposed to respond emotionally to each big scene. Really, it doesn't. Not at all...