Steven Spielberg’s first World War I film, War Horse, concerns a horse that a boy obtains in England during the lead-up to the war.  The boy and the horse become close and the horse nearly saves the family, but when the war starts the boy’s father sells the horse to the military to maintain the family’s welfare.  The horse passes between many owners and masters before finally finding its way back to the boy.

War Horse is a frustrating mix of elements.  It is old-fashioned epic filmmaking with beautiful outdoor photography by Janusz Kaminski and a sweeping score by John Williams.  These elements are generally very effective but unfortunately they are in service of a weak script.  While the pointlessness of war comes across clearly, the heavy symbolism involving the relationship between the boy and the horse hangs like a yoke around the horse’s neck.  A heart-warming tale that is also a warning about the horrors of war?  This incongruity simply doesn’t work.  For me, the film that Spielberg likely had in the back of his mind was Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick’s essential anti-war film.  Trying to pin that film’s crushing message into what is essentially a Disney family film about a love affair between a boy and a horse captures the deep problems with Spielberg’s oeuvre better than any other misstep he has made.  Some things in life, like war, neglect of children, and the Holocaust, just don’t have a bright side, but Spielberg will never stop trying.  ☆ ☆.

MJM  07-21-2012