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Arts & Entertainment

'War Horse' Transitions Easily To Big Screen

Spielberg's latest is an epic achievement.

Following the tradition of cable TV channel Turner Classic Movies (TCM), which shows Oscar-rated films for 31 days before the Academy Awards, I’m writing  "5 Weeks of Oscar"…reviews of 2012 Oscar nominated films each week until the Oscars themselves on Sunday, February 26, 2012.

I don’t think I ever would have seen War Horse if it didn’t get nominated for Best Picture.  Why?  Well, let’s just say that director Steven Spielberg is not my favorite film director.  And, to top it off, it’s a SAPPY Spielberg movie, ala Empire of the Sun or Always

Spielberg has a knack for telling his audience HOW to feel and WHEN to feel it.  I don’t like someone trying to manipulate my feelings like that.  I like to be given the information so that I am the one to decide when to feel what.  Even Saving Private Ryan, which starts off as one of the strongest, most brutal war films ever, verges on the saccharine as the plot hedges closer and closer to a “melodrama with Nazis.” 

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But, with War Horse, my “sappy Spielberg” theory is quashed.  I was wrong to not want to see this film.  It’s a great film done with heart and passion, but not with too many false, faked emotions.  Yes, there are some over-the-top emotional moments here, but the strong plot saves the movie from ever going too far into the world of high melodrama.

Maybe Spielberg is getting less emotional with age…or else it results from the story the film is based on…which began as a children’s book and also was a successful stage play in London’s National Theatre. 

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Set before and during World War I, War Horse’s story revolves around…a horse!  How surprising!  But, this is not just any horse.  This is a horse that can do it all…plow fields, ride stalwartly into battle and, most of all, survive. 

I was afraid that the film would focus solely on the relationship between the horse and the young boy with whom the horse bonds at the beginning.  But, War Horse takes on more dimension than just one relationship.  The horse is the true focus here…and all of the people he encounters and the stories he lives through are just snippets of his life. This is not to say that we do not get caught up in these snippets…we do.  But, our attention stays firmly planted on the main character…the horse.

Nominated for six Oscars, War Horse is a timeless movie for all…animal lovers or foes, Spielberg fans and foes, melodrama fans and foes.  Don’t stay away because you think this movie will be too sentimental.  You will be missing out on a great movie. 

War Horse: 2011, rated PG-13, 146 minutes, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Emily Watson, Jeremy Irvine, David Thewlis; Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Marsan and Benedict Cumberpatch.  The Niles Public Library will own this title on DVD once it is released. 

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