"War horse" by Steven Spielberg - movie review

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to watch "War horse" with the expectation to watch a new "Saving Private Rya". The film is described as a "military epic", and from a certain point of view it really is, but above all, it is a screening of a children's book about the friendship of a boy (Albert) and his horse (Joey), separated from the "horrors of war" screening aimed at the family audience and as such contains elements that may seem almost ridiculous to you if you approach the wrong expectations. The family element, however, should not bother you so much, especially if you are prepared. Stepping out of the hands of the great Stephen Spielberg, "War horse" is far more than a "family film" - beyond that he is a visually and emotionally fascinating story about the power of the spirit and the horrors of the war, which is a kind of bow to classic "epic" the golden age of Hollywood - so that's not the real problem of the film that prevents him from being one of Spielberg's best works.

By leaving all the preconceptions and attitudes aside, the film has two main problems: the fragmentary structure of the narrative and the definitely clumsy first half. Michael Morpurgo's novel is made up of several separate episodes linked and represented from the point of view of horse Joey, who is actually the main actor - in the novel we hear his thoughts - and is a soldering of individual stories. However, if it is transferred to a screen, it will obviously cause some problems, as one is a family-oriented military film, and another is to have talking animals. There is no way of relying on this key moment in the narrative that action needs to focus on supporting characters from individual stories, which, however, (in part of the episodes) are on the screen so brief that it is difficult to build a relationship and invest emotionally. In this way, we remain simple observers of what is happening, no matter how pathetic these stories are, and with all the visual perfection they are presented with.

Aware of the deficiency of this type of narrative structure, the film's authors have in principle taken the good decision to devote little more attention to building the link between Albert and Joey, as it is the backbone of history. As a result, the starting point where Albert teaches Joey comes a little lengthy and given the fact that she is the most family oriented - an extraordinary horse, a slothful goose and the "miracle" that collects the village is like going out of the Babe (and the way it is shot all just reinforces the feeling) - things are getting a bit heavy. Still, we talk about Spielberg and these other drawbacks are offset by other elements, such as the already mentioned vision, the work of the great Janus Kaminsky, the wonderful disarming music of John Williams and the wonderful acting performances, both in the face of young rising stars and veterans, not least the incredible performance of the horses in the movie that play better than a lot of people who write actors.

In his second half, "War horse" is gradually gaining momentum and eventually galloping towards a strong and influential final part - including possibly the best scene in the whole movie where Joey is trapped in the midst of the land, as well as a true story of the two enemies soldiers who are trying to release it - and of course, to the expected (in every sense of the word) final. And the finish itself, as if to remind us that everything we have seen so far is just a fairy tale, if it is real and filled with terrible and tough moments of our story, Spielberg and Kaminsky end up with a scene like a book with pictures .

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