Film Analysis of War Horse - Movie Review Example

Film Analysis of War Horse Introduction: War horse is a masterpiece directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is an excellent movie with a strong narrative story structure. The war horse is a war drama based on novel by a British novelist Michael Morpurgo. This novel was first published in the United Kingdom in 1982. The basic theme of the story is set on World War I. This movie is a cinematic masterpiece which is filmed in British countryside areas. The movie depicts the real emotions and unfolds the unspoken yet heartfelt affection between the humans and the horses. Steven Spielberg has excelled the art of producing and directing films that are closer to reality and emotions especially when it comes to wars. Theme of the Movie: There are various themes that have been defined in the movie such as fear of losing life in a war, pride in fighting a war and creation of broken families and souls as a result of war. The movie translates a simple message to the audience that war is the only bitter experience that separates souls without declaring anyone as a winner. The entire story of the movie revolves around World War I. However, the central and the primary theme of the movie revolve around a horse named, “Joey” and his master; a young boy named, “Albert Narracott.” Tagline of the Movie: “Separated by war. Tested by battle. Bound by friendship.” The tagline of the movie clearly highlights the effects and severity of World War I on relations. The tagline of the movie is directly linked with the theme and the story of the movie. Brief Plot Synopsis of “War Horse”: The movie revolves around the unspoken love and attachment between a young boy named Albert Narracott and the horse bought by his drunken father, Ted with an intention to plough his farms and more specifically to spite his landlord who was known as Lyon. The entire movie is filmed in Devon, England. Albert names the horse as Joey and trains him to plough. Their love grows as they spend time together. With the passage of time, Albert teaches Joey many different things. However, a drastic event changes everything between them. Ted sells Joey to Captain Nicholls to cover losses incurred by his destroyed turnip crops. Captain Nicholls, who was in British Army, promises the young Albert that he would take care of the Joey during the war and he would return him as soon as the war ends. Joey is trained well for all the military purposes. Unfortunately, during the war Captain Nicholls got killed in France and Joey was captured by the Germans along with other many horses. From there, Joey embarks on a new journey and ends up when a French girl named, Emilie discovers two horses inside a windmill. Emilie, who lives with her grandfather, suffers from an unidentified illness. Later, their property and the horses are confiscated by the German soldiers and they take everything away with them. Now the story takes another melancholic turn and Albert is seen fighting alongside with Andrew, his best friend, in the Second Battle of the Somme in 1918. Albert loses his longtime best friend Andrew in the battlefield against German army. On the other hand, Joey flees into no-man’s land and stuck himself in barbed wires. Joey is rescued by both the German and British soldiers. To claim their ownership on the horse, both the soldiers mutually agree on flipping the coin and making the decision on the ownership of the horse. The British soldier wins and takes the horse to the British medical camp. However, once again the fate brings Albert and Joey together but this time Albert is unable to see due to eye injuries but somehow he felt the presence of Joey around him. He wanted to keep the horse but he failed as the horses other than those of officers are auctioned on the highest bids. Once again destiny takes Joey away from Albert. Here, fate takes another turn and Joey is bought by Emilie’s grandfather who wanted to keep the horse in Emilie’s memory. Emilie, who is now dead, had great love for the little Joey. Her grandfather refuses to Albert’s heart melting pleads. But later, when he asks Albert about the pennant and Albert tells him that once it belonged to his father; this melts the heart of the old man and he grants Joey along with pennant to Albert. In the end, Albert returns to his home riding on the back of Joey and returns his father’s pennant back. Acting and Casting: Steven Spielberg has finely selected the cast for the movie. Jeremy Irvin has played the leading role as Albert Narracott along with Emily Watson as Rose Narracott. Peter Mullan has played the role of Albert’s drunken father, Ted and on the other hand, Niels Arestrup as Emilie’s grandfather (Freer, 2010). Jeremy Irvin is an English stage actor who was finely picked by the director after a thorough search. However, Jeremy Irvin is not much known in the world of film and he is relatively an unknown stage actor. But, Spielberg has described the acting of Jeremy as natural and authentic. Jeremy Irvin has the same West Country accent as required according to the demand of the role (Freer, 2010). Rest of the cast is also finely selected by the director. The entire cast of the movie is comprised of the personality stars that have molded themselves as real ones into the fictious characters. The cast is comprised of actors of different nationalities such as British, French and Germans as needed according to the demand of the movie. Almost all the actors have performed well as per the demand of the movie and according to the instructions of the director. Each character has fit itself perfectly according to the demand and the flow of the movie. Their acting is close to the reality as they have molded themselves perfectly in the characters. Cinematography: War Horse is a technical masterpiece by the cinematographer, Janusz Kaminsky. His excellent cinematography has made the movie an epic masterpiece. Each of the shot is filmed in the natural daylight with exposure of the strong lights to enhance the beauty of the landscape, clouds, and the areas around. The cinematographer confesses himself that he hasn’t created the movie in the digital intermediate and the movie is filmed in the traditional manner with the traditional tools. Genre: This movie is a western historical war drama. This movie hold a special generic category as the theme of the movie revolves around the events of the World War I. The central storyline of the movie is based on the war and more specifically, on the historical events. Sound: War Horse is a epic military movie by Steven Spielberg. It is a movie without the presence of the big super stars but this movie has left a huge impression on the box office. The sound designer of the movie is Gary Rydstrom who has never done any military movie before. The idea and the opportunity fascinated him. Since, the movie revolves around the events of World War I, therefore; the movie carries the battle sound of guns, war tanks and grenades. However, the sound effects produced in the movie are created by the sounds of household items, ice skates, gallon water bottles, lawn mower and vacuum cleaner. Editing: For the editing purpose of movie war horse a special trailer was built to use it right on the set with the editing equipment to enable the director the movie to take a moment and look at some footage. It really pays of for both director and edit in term of sticking with the whole set idea and this ultimately saved lots time. The most challenging aspect of the editing activity was trying to get director into that trailer so that he could edit. It would take several runs between the set and the trailer before the editor and director had chosen all of the selects of a particular scene so that editor could then edit.  By the time they finish production, editor of the movie has a cut that is closer to a fine cut than a rough assembly. Working with animals on a motion picture always adds another degree of difficulty to a production, so it is not too surprising that editing the horses was the main difficulty editor had on this particular picture. Therefore from cut to cut director never had so many problems matching horses’ heads rather he had to match heads and had to be cognizant of the fact that the horses were going to be moving around a lot. They still had to make some cuts for dramatic purposes but at the end of the day it all worked out very well. Converting late to non-linear editing, the editor and director of the movie switched from cutting film using a Moviola to working digitally on Avid with the production of Tin Tin, which came shortly before War Horse. Beside the fact the director and editor were in love with editing style of Moviola but when they worked on an Avid and it let them edit the shot which required trimming them right away. It helps them to save time to go back to the editing box to get it, you just push a button and the trim is there and Avid is ten times quicker for him.  Film had given him the eye to quickly see matches, a skill which translated over to working on the computer. Director also got hooked on the non-linear editing and he aught to stay with this for War Horse. The editor cut fast, but it takes a while to splice and to tape, and it gives them a chance to walk around and think. The whole new technology is sort of making director think a little quicker as a director on a film set. Its an excellent masterpiece, that has worked for director and editor of the movie and now they “never take those walks, because for War Horse, there wasnt any time to take those walks, because the changes are made so quickly.” (dreamworksstudios.com) It was a fast motion movie that is it weak and strong point at the same time. Direction of the Movie: This movie is a classic masterpiece by Steven Spielberg which revolves around the events of World War I and relationships. The movie is well directed and produced by Spielberg in which he has proved his competence in the world of Hollywood once again after the success of Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and many more. Spielberg has mastered the art of producing and directing the war related movies. Spielberg has managed to direct and produce a movie in the absence of super stars. Steven Speilberg has perfectly highlighted the events of World War I, its affects on the minds of people and their relations and use of horses during the war. Under the mastered direction of Spielberg, the camera captures each shot of war with sheer excellence filled with emotions and natural sentiments. The movie itself proves the work and efforts of Steven Spielberg. Each scene and shot is directed in the most natural way as the director could; filled with intense drama and emotions that may sweep the audience with sheer sadness and tears. Each scene highlights intense emotions, relations and true feelings that can be easily felt throughout the movie. His excellent direction has got him nominated for the big dream, Oscar Awards which proves the success of the film and the direction itself. Societal Impact: The movie is very closer to the reality. The story of the movie speaks for itself. War is a bitter and a cruel truth that separates and torments the humanity and the relations. However, some shots from the movie of war may have its adverse affects on the minds of the minors. The movie discusses the political issues revolved around the events during World War I and the misuse of horses during the war. The film also highlights the issue on the misuse of the horses by different armies during World War I. The story of the movie highlights the true story of the war-horses. However, the movie itself is a war drama based on the events of World War I. List of References: War Horse (2011). DreamWorks Studio. Los Angeles. Retrieved from . Freer, I. (2010). ‘Exclusive: War Horse Cast Announced.’ Empire. Retrieved from Read More