War Horse

Viewer Rating:Patrick McLaren has rated War Horse rating: 3 Star

Anyone expecting War Horse to be in the same mould as Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan is bound to be disappointed. Those earlier two films have become timeless masterpieces and reflect Steven Spielberg's genius for telling a complex, multi-layered story in a way that engages both intellect and emotion. His latest film is not in the same league by a long shot. Perhaps this is because it is based on a children's novel and therefore does not deal directly with the awful carnage of World War I. Yet, Spielberg does manage to cleverly suggest the dreadful consequences of brutal warfare without showing us bullets ripping into flesh as in Saving Private Ryan. For instance, in a vintage Spielbergian scene, a cavalry troop rides out of a wheatfield towards a German encampment unaware of the array of machine guns ready to open fire on them. All we see of what happens next are closeups of the faces of the riders as they realise their mistake and then the many dead horses and men lying on the battlefield. This pattern continues throughout the film. Violence is portrayed in an
oblique way, never full on. But this is not why War Horse ultimately fails to satisfy. Spielberg has not lost his gift for creating scenes, like the cavalry charge, that linger in the memory. Another showing the execution of two deserters is a mini-masterpiece in terms of its almost casual brilliance. No, the main problem with War Horse is the screenplay, and the man who had a large part in writing it, Richard Curtis. Curtis' only previous experience of writing anything to do with trench warfare in the First World War was the last series of Blackadder. However, he is known mainly for a number of
successful romantic comedies starring Hugh Grant, such as Notting Hill. For those who know and even enjoy Curtis' work, his strengths lie in producing light and often sentimental pieces that present his own rosy view of the world. Now, Spielberg has a tendency towards sentimentality as well, but he usually manages to keep it in check. However, presented with a
screenplay as mushy as this one, it is not surprising that the result is less like Saving Private Ryan and more like E.T., but without the latter's innocent charm. The other strength of E.T. was that the audience cared about the characters, even the little rubber alien himself. In War Horse however the characters are so thinly drawn as to be two-dimensional. Even great actors like Emily Watson and Peter Mullan cannot inject life into the bland and stilted dialogue. There is one notable exception, which is a scene towards the end in which a British soldier and his German enemy lay down their weapons in order to free a horse trapped in no-man's land. For about five or ten minutes, Spielberg presents us with an eloquent lesson in the futility of war. The performances of the actors are understated and perfect, and the dialogue sparkles with invention.Steven Spielberg is incapable of making a truly terrible film, even with a dull screenplay like this one. But War Horse will never feature among his greatest works and we can only hope for better things when Lincoln reaches our screens.

Review published on the 16 January 2012 11:17