WAR HORSE

Cavalry Caper

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, Tom Hiddleston, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch

Black Beauty goes to war in this handsomely mounted epic from master filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

On the eve of World War I, Devon farmboy Albert Narracott comes into possession of a spirited half-thoroughbred thanks to his father’s (Peter Mullan) spirited but ill-advised bidding at a livestock auction. Albert dubs the nag Joey, and the two soon become inseparable, but the economic realities of their situation, personified by uppity landlord Lyons (David Thewlis) result in Joey being sold to cavalry captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston, last seen as Loki in Thor). From there, we follow Joey’s travels throughout the course of the Great War, as he is pressed into service on both sides and is witness to all manner of tragedy and loss. All the while, Albert searches for his beloved steed.

Be warned: this is Spielberg at his most unabashedly sentimental. The ‘berg is a master of manipulating audience emotion, and here he has the added edge of having an animal as his protagonist, a wrinkle sure to wrest tears from the eyes of the most hard-hearted viewer. Having said that, there are times when the film’s old-fashioned sentiment verges on the mawkish, particularly in the early, Devon-set sequences, which feel like something out of an old 1930s rural melodrama. This is a film that you have to surrender yourself to in order to enjoy, and anyone who instinctively bucks against the blatant heartstring-pulling is going to have a hard time of it.

The picaresque narrative structure also makes it at times difficult to empathise with many of the human characters. Joey crosses paths with a large number of people, military and civilian, and so many of them come to a bad end that at times it feels like the horse is some kind of equine psychopomp, presaging death for any who cross his path. Yet that same episodic structure allows Spielberg to draw on an exceptionally large canvas; the film’s sense of scale is truly impressive, and is balanced by an equally immersive attention to costume and location detail. The result is an exercise in historical verisimilitude that is almost unparalleled.

Yet it’s also a big-hearted, old-fashioned adventure story, and it’s here that War Horse is at its most rewarding. Yes, it’s an inquiry into the horrors of war, but also a celebration of courage and compassion, and the bond that can form between human and animal.

But there’s something missing, a strange absence at the centre of the work that stops it from being truly great. There’s a thematic lack; the feeling that the film isn’t actually about anything deeper than the events it portrays. Having said that, as an exercise in emotional catharsis, War Horse beats anything else currently showing hands down, and anyone looking for a movie-going experience that will leave them both wet-eyed and smiling broadly will find that it fits the bill perfectly.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON