It would be relatively easy to wring sentiment from a story about a horse and the young man who raises him, and War Horse certainly exploits that relationship about as fully as one would expect.  Yet the film is so much more than that.  War Horse  explores how everything changed for so many people during what became the first world war.  Is this new?  No, but as seen through the perspective of a horse — who finds himself on both sides of the war at various times — it’s certainly fresh.  I think the aspect that affected me most is that so many characters recognize the nobility of the horse and either try to protect him or refuse to exploit him.  Even amidst the horrors of war, the horse is looked after by people that genuinely care for him.

My favorite scene takes place in the no man’s land of the battlefield, where a single English soldier and a single German soldier take the time to free the trapped horse of its barbed wire bonds and, at least for a few minutes, prove that they can rise above their quest for annihilation of the enemy.  Steven Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski are masters of visual images, with this and many other scenes spellbinding in their presentation. From intense closeups of the horse to aerial shots of verdant England and war-torn France, the film is hauntingly beautiful and elegant. The homecoming sequence that ends the story is shot like something right out of a John Ford classic.

At 146 minutes the film is too long, and some of the human characters that the horse encounters are not developed as fully as they should have been, yet War Horse is a memorable movie in many ways.  The horse is enthralling, with an inner strength that attests to the devotion he has received.  It may be that Spielberg is trying to right a past animal-related wrong; in Jaws he demonized a shark, while here he has canonized a horse.

It should also be noted that Spielberg has toned down the violence quotient.  There is plenty of death but, in the style of the old masters like Ford and Hawks, he utilizes tricks of editing to cut around all the blood and gore associated with war.  He used the opposite approach in Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List, but for this film it was more appropriate (and family friendly) to be suggestive rather than bold.  It is yet another reason that I appreciate the film.  It isn’t as good as Spielberg’s best work, but it’s better than the vast majority of other Hollywood films.  It’s one of the best movies of the year.  ✰ ✰ ✰ ½.  29 Dec. 2011.