It's
interesting how in most westerns that there is the hero, or the lone ranger who
rides with his noble steed, usually heading west towards the setting sun,
looking back at his accomplishment. This movie is far different and more interesting
in that the star is the horse, bathe in the warm yellow sun as if he himself is
the hero of the story.
In
a year where everybody is trying hard to be different, new, and innovative,
here is a movie that sticks to the old cores on how a traditional, cheesy yet
awe inspiring Academy award movie can get. Typically, there is always a movie
that shines through the group of movies and it's usually the big looking movie
that's professionally done.
Steven Spielberg has created a culmination of two of his
separate artistic designs; his whimsical charm that's kid friendly and even
fantasy like, and the raw gritty realities of the world that requires no
directing sugar coating. In this movie, there is a pretty long exposition that
establishes the friendship between a horse named Joey and a boy who takes care
of him. The exposition might be a tad bit long, but it does a wonderful job of
showing that these two characters are inseparable. here, we see the two plowing
a ground that's full of rocks and weed, and later, we see the two outracing a
car.
The next part consists of Joey being used in the army,
and the narrative does something interesting here in that Joey goes through an
episodic journey, going from one master to another, from one nationality to
another. Joey belonged to a British captain, to two German deserters, from a
French girl, and so forth. The movie works in a strange way where each
character changes because of this very horse, much like the movie Forrest Gump. some were inspired by
Joey's extraordinary gift of endurance, speed, and perseverance. Others see him
simply as a horse, after all, a horse does not follow the concept of
nationality.
This begs an interesting perspective in a war movie.
Usually, there is the war movie cliché in which the main character is forced to
go through a draft and shoved into the bitter reality and turmoil of war. In
this case, it is an animal that's shoved instead. How would the horse survive
as oppose a human? How will it get home to its loved ones, and how will it
handle the deaths of those around him? Sure the movie can be a bit clichéd at
times, but it follows its cliché in an interesting way. Instead of a comrade
dying in the hands of the main character, what if the person was dying in front
of the horse?
However, more so, we grow to love a horse. We know
when it feels happy, sad, remorse, and we feel its pain. At one point, we see
it in so much pain in that my mind went outside the fourth wall and wondered if
how the Animal Humane society got this scene through. All of this will pay off,
my friends, in an ending that got some sniffles in the audience. Because this
movie is by Spielberg, there is a long journey ahead in order to reach the long
awaited fulfillment that's shown at the
end of the road, and that is something that's worth feeling, especially in a
war movie that contains suffering and death.
Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer of Steven
Spielberg, does a wonderful job of setting a story entirely through its shot.
There are those same gritty moments that reminisce Saving Private Ryan, however, the movie also has a beauty side to
it that only beautiful sunsets and Western movies can fathom.
John William's score shines bright with its powerful, yet
simplistic symphonic sound. In the past, we've heard him do Jazz; such as from Catch Me If You Can, to Ethnic; such as Munich, and Memoirs of a Geisha, and the stylish action movies, such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skulls, and The Adventures of Tintin.
However, the score is fresher and a lot more moving than his past work. It
has the grand sound of the American Nationalism taken from Aaron Copland,
sounding similar to Saving Private Ryan.
The movie is the best looking World War I movie since A Very Long Engagement, with the whole
No Man's Land look. There has never been a huge interest with World War I;
however, I find it fascinating. The concept of No Man's Land is fascinating in
its gritty and muddy type of warfare, the
usual rain and cold feeling of being in the mud soaked trenches, as well as the
humanity of how soldiers will run out in the open in front of enemy fire in
order to get to point B. The movie has
the great sense of war in it, as well as a powerful character to follow. It's
not surprising that this movie, a simple movie about a horse, will be the talk
of this year. I was looking for a professional comeback from the strange
Spielberg action/adventure movies, and this movie did more than suffice.
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