Steven Spielberg's WAR HORSE: A Masterpiece Epic of Loyalty and Courage
- Details
- Category: Film
- Published on Tuesday, 27 December 2011 12:02
- Written by Janet Walker
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WAR HORSE, the World War I epic, from DreamWorks Pictures and Director Steven Spielberg, brings to the screen an emotionally charged, visually stunning, story of the unshakable bonds of family, the desolation of war and the hope of renewal.
Produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, WAR HORSE is presented by DreamWorks SKG, Reliance Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
WAR HORSE opens with wide screen sweeping angles of the English countryside; lush patchwork landscape as far as the eye can see. WAR HORSE stars newcomer Jeremy Irvine as young Albert Narracott, along with Emily Watson and Peter Mullan, as Ted and Rose Naracott, a downtrodden family farming a plot of stone filled land.
As fate would have it, a horse auction brings a young thoroughbred colt into their lives and grows into the fourth member of their family. More than an animal he is the brother, the friend, their strength, their hope in times of despair; he creates a way when there is no way. He is loved and needed.
War and desperate times encroach and Joey is sold to the British Army. The bond that developed propels this young man, barely out of his youth into the trenches of the first world war taking him far from his native England to the desolate barren skeleton of the war ravaged front, in search of his beloved thoroughbred, Joey.
Filming WAR HORSE
WAR HORSE, one might add, is another masterpiece from Steven Spielberg, and yet WAR HORSE goes beyond mastery and reveals a heightened level of filmmaking even for one whom many consider one of the greatest directors of modern history.
What the day was and what the day became is vividly portrayed through a series of escalating sequences as Spielberg splits the frame in quick volleys and uses colors, from a golden sense of victory as the troops advance to the black truth and desolate barren world of reality as the war drags on, to add mood and essentially tell a story without the use of voice over or possibly through the eyes of the animal.
His use of contrasting frame shots to portray the sheer slaughter of British Troops has created scenes of carnage seen only as an aftermath, without a single drop of blood as opposed to JAWS which stunned audiences thirty years ago.
The WAR HORSE set was monitored by the American Human Society, for more than 1100 hours. For every moment in which a horse was on the set the American Human Society was also present. WAR HORSE received the highest honor available: Monitored outstanding: No animals were harmed.
WAR HORSE also stars David Thewlis, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tony Kebbell and was adapted for the screen by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis from the book by Michael Morpurgo and the recent stage play by Nick Stafford.
WAR HORSE, a masterpiece epic, is the type of film that invites moviegoers to become emotionally involved. WAR HORSE is expressively gripping! A four-star beauty! Allow yourself to experience WAR HORSE!
Special Thanks to WALT DISNEY Pictures Publicity.
