Review of War Horse (2011) by Charlie H — 12 Jul 2014
I am not a fan of Morpurgo's writing. I find it depressing, slow and too sentimental. The theme of war is depressing anyway, the story is very sentimental but I felt that the pace was too fast.
I am a proud stoic when it comes to films. I cried in films when I was younger. But who didn't? War horse was the first film in years that made me blub, more than once. This was probably because of my love of equines but I found myself weeping for characters as well.
The first few minutes are boring! Just a horse being born and a poor farmer buying him to show off to his land lord. The story picks up when he is bought by a young officer (Tom Hiddlestone) to fight in WWI. After that, Joey (the horse; numerous horses) goes through many traumatic situations in war torn Europe, very quickly.
The scenes in Devon look ridiculous! No part of my country look like that, even the rural idyll where I live. It is very green and very pleasant, too much so. The sets for continental Europe are equally sumptuous and the set for "No-man's-land" is dark and bleak, not as much as in the real war though.
Stellar performances all around. Watson's Rosie is just how I imagine 1910's housewives to act, Buckens' Emilie always seems so optimistic in the face of events and Hiddlestone's Captain Nicholls is touchingly humane. But the real star of this film is Irvine who gives a deep, realistic performance from start to finish. And then there is every horse who played Joey, you lot are wonderful!
Not the finest film ever, but one that I will watch again.
This review of War Horse (2011) was written by Charlie H on 12 Jul 2014.
War Horse has generally received positive reviews.
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