All Equine on the Western Front

War Horse

*** out of ****

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Tom Hiddleston, Peter Mullan and Niels Arestrup

Running time: 145 minutes

Steven Spielberg’s films are, more often than not, moving and magnificent triumphs of breathtaking wonder and deep emotional catharsis. One of American cinema’s eternal optimists, he is a filmmaker who proudly wears his heart on his sleeve.

While his thrilling tribute to adventure serials – The Adventures of Tintin – plays to fans of action-adventure, another one of his big-screen offerings is out in theatres: an earnest, humanistic drama called War Horse.

Based off a children’s novel by Michael Morpungo, which was also adapted into an acclaimed stage play by Nick Stafford, War Horse is a visually stunning journey to the days of uplifting and sentimental classical Hollywood storytelling.

Bookended by images of lush, pastoral vistas bathed in blood red sunlight, the film makes excellent use of the “John Ford horizon line” (cinematography comes from Spielberg’s frequent collaborator, the irreplacable Janusz Kaminski).

War Horse chronicles the rearing of Joey, a gallant and determined thoroughbred with a battered leg. He is picked up at a rural England auction by an idealistic farmer, Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), to help him plow a field of turnips in time for the harvest. But his wife, Rosie (Emily Watson), disapproves of his purchase, noting that he is more than the family can afford.

Ted and Rosie’s teenage son, Albert (newcomer Jeremy Irvine), gumptiously agrees to train the horse to plow. The young farm boy is drawn to Joey. His first gaze of marvel at the handsome animal epitomizes the "Spielberg Face," when the director focuses the lens on a character's incredulous look to align the audience with the amazement that they feel.

The two bond delicately riding through the English countryside, although this admiration is abruptly severed when Ted decides to give Joey away to a British cavalry Captain (Tom Hiddleston).

Albert vows that he will see Joey again, and gives the Captain his father’s military flag from his service in the Boer War. Irvine has real gravitas on screen, even though his scenes with the remarkable horse are awkwardly piqued by a boastful crescendo from John Williams’ score.

Joey becomes the focal point for many episodes within the film. He ends up a gallant galloper by fighting for both sides, and even becomes the prized possession of a darling French girl (Celine Buckens) and her doting grandfather (a heartwarming Niels Arestrup).

The horse's resilience is uplifting: even though he is an animal, one can feel his relentless pursuit to return to his rightful owner. As Arestrup’s character tells his granddaughter, summing up Joey’s plight, “You have to look forward or you’ll never get home.”

As a battle picture, War Horse is more heartfelt than harrowing. There is nary a graphic moment in sight, with slain soldiers symbolized by horses galloping over barrels of gunfire without their riders.

The title character is played by eight horses, although bizzarely, none of them receive credit at the end of the film. It’s incredible to watch them pant and gallop through furlongs of trenches, smoke, dirt and carnage – undoubtedly upholstered by expensive special effects – and remain unscathed. The crew who trained and worked with the animals should be heralded for this achievement.

Some moments within the film are hokey, even by Spielberg’s sentimental standards. When John Williams’ stirring score isn’t accompanying Joey’s breathtaking spurts through no-man’s-land, it is relentlessly trying to milk emotion.

There is one particularly moving scene where an English and German soldier both approach Joey, lying entangled in bushels of barbed wire, and cleave through the metal together to free the horse. The score doesn’t swell here, and the scene has greater dramatic impact as a result.

All sap aside, Spielberg has crafted a tale of generous humanism that would please Jean Renoir, family values that would delight William Wyler, breathtaking wartime set-pieces that would thrill John Ford, and the keen attention to the codes of classical Hollywood storytelling – long takes, deep focus – that those cinematic titans championed.

Occasionally, War Horse feels too soft and saccharine for the wartime period it is trying to emulate. But with a magnificent beating heart at its centre, it’s a perfectly sincere piece of holiday feel-goodery, and a terrific tribute to the bygone days of boundless Hollywood epics.