War Horse

I must confess, I actually enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s previous film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), mainly for Harrison Ford’s wonderful reprisal of the title character. I didn’t mind the introduction of aliens into the storyline as many fans seemed to. If anything kept Crystal Skull from being as great as the three previous Indiana Jones films it was the obvious CGI, specifically the ground hogs seen in the beginning and the monkeys Shia LeBeouf swings around with.

This year, however, Spielberg has come back with War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. I haven’t seen the latter yet (although I definitely plan to), but War Horse, based on the book of the same name by Michael Morpurgo, is a satisfying drama.

The title character is a steed who is given the name Joey by a boy named Albert, played by Jeremy Irvine. When their farm is threatened with foreclosure, Albert’s father Ted (Peter Mullan) sells Joey to Stewart (Benedict Cumberbatch, who currently plays Sherlock Holmes on the BBC), who rides him into action when World War I breaks out. Stewart is later killed and Joey is taken by Germans, who use him to pull their artillery.

At the same time, Albert reaches the age where he can and does enlist. But this doesn’t stop him from searching the front lines for his beloved steed, despite the daunting odds. As the war reaches its end, however, Joey and Albert are reunited.

The cast is great, especially Celine Buckens as an ill French girl who briefly takes care of Joey. But the film belongs to Joey since the action is mostly seen through his eyes.

The battle scenes, although not as horrific to watch as those in Spielberg’s classic war film Saving Private Ryan (1998), are impressive and somewhat reminiscent of those in Stanley Kubrick’s film Paths of Glory (1957), which also takes place during WWI.

The music by John Williams, who has scored almost all of Spielberg’s films, is another plus.

In a way, this is reminiscent of The Black Stallion (1979), with the horse striving to survive a war rather than winning a race.