War Horse (2011)

 "Be Brave"

*Spoilers*

War Horse (2011) is not simply just a war film, it is a film that has war in the background, and lays a foundation that the characters featured are able to react around. 

The film is about a young boy called Albert Narracote, (Jeremy Irvine) and his relationship with a horse, which he lovingly calls Joey. Early on in the film Joey is brought from an auction by Albert’s father (Peter Mullan) who should have originally purchased a large plough horse to plough his fields on his struggling farm. 

The attachment between horse and rider is evident very early on in the film. As you can see from the image below Spielberg uses medium and close up shots to capture both man and beast. The image below illustrates Albert’s success of placing a piece of farm equipment on Joey which at first he is reluctant to do. We see Albert demonstrate to Joey that the apparatus is safe and that by cooperating they can work together to save his father’s farm. These kind of shots create, at the beginning of the film, an emotional ride in which the audience is going to be involved in.

Albert takes on the challenge of training Joey as a ploughing horse, against the snide and unkind remarks from Lyons, (David Thewlis) the landlord of the farm in which the Narracote’s live. Albert’s belief in Joey is heart warming; this affection stays with Joey even when Albert is not in the same scenes with him.

Steven Spielberg is well known for big, blockbuster films. The family is always featured at the heart of the story, creating a foundation in which all audiences can relate to on some level: E.T (1982), Artificial Intelligence (2001) and even Jaws (1975) are some examples of this.
Costume design is very important in any film, War Horse is no different as we can recognise from how the Narracotes live, that they are quite poor. This is evident when Lyons visits the farm. He is wearing a dog tooth style suit with a black bowler hat. The costume design signifies that his profession involves money and heavily contrasts with how Ted is dressed. His costume is weather beaten and looks old and worn out. Much like his character, as we later find out that he is an old war hero and suffers from the memory of his involvement in fighting and conflict. Ted’s involvement on the farm often signifies his want and need to grow and produce. We learn that he may have been involved with killing a great many people which has mentally scarred him. By tending to his earth and growing vegetables it is as though he is using this as an outlet to forget his previous life. 

The costume design differs when Joey meets the young army soldier Captain Nicholls. The army costume is like a camouflage to all the soldiers featured in these scenes, they all somehow lose their identity whereas Joey and the other horses stand out and become significant characters in these war/fighting scenes. 

 I grasped from the film that it was cut into three separate stages of the story; the birth and early relationship of Joey and Albert, Joey going to war and living with an old French jam maker, (Niels Arestrup) and his granddaughter, (Celine Buckens) and finally the war, where he is later reunited with Albert. They separately reinforce the story, but together solidify the impact that the war has on not only human beings but on the animals that were sometimes cruelly made to work in aid of the war effort.

Spielberg relies a lot on the English countryside to set the scene for the narrative. It is apparent in the final scene of the film. When Joey and Albert return from the war the cinematography is breath taking, the reds, oranges, yellows and blues are all in contrast to what Albert and Joey were witness’ to in the war scenes. Black, white and grey are far from what the pair is used to, having been brought up on a farm in the countryside. Here Spielberg contrasts the two settings by making them the exact opposite of one another. When we return to the Narracote farm at the end of the film, Albert and Joey are not the only one’s comforted by the familiar settings of the farm and being reunited with his mother (Emily Watson) and father. We as an audience are also brought home from the trials and dangers which Joey and Albert have been subjected too.

  

The scene in which stands out for me is one where Joey becomes tangled up in barbed wire as he tries to, as I understood it, escape the war and the violence that it entails. Joey becomes stuck in the middle of no man’s land and cannot free himself from the wire. Joey draws the attention of not only the English soldiers but the Germans ones aswell. After identifying that the creature is a horse both English and German soldiers come to Joey’s aid. The German soldier has come equipped with a pair of metal cutters, the English one has not. Spielberg uses this potentially tense scene to inject some humour into the narrative. The German soldier calls to his fellow soldiers for more wire cutters, a wave of cutters are thrown from the trenches with no sign of anybody else wanting to rescue the horse. The English and German soldiers wish each other well and return to their respective trenches/side and country. I think this scene is very clever in bringing the two sides together not only in their involvement in the war but in identifying that neither solider wants to be fighting. Many men who were involved in war, as I can imagine, would rather have found an alternative method in sorting out their country’s troubles. This scene explains this in a very informal and humorous way and somehow reinforces the idea that at the end of the day everyone is human and suffers the same when under stress or conflict.
I really enjoyed War Horse, to be honest I knew I would as I not only enjoy Spielberg’s films but really felt quite teary when watching the trailer for the first time. I would say that this film is a full price purchase. I can’t wait to watch it again...tissues are a must!!

Kirsty