BOOK/MOVIE: War Horse

VS.

                The movie “War Horse” is based on a young adult novel by Michael Murpago.  It was first published in Great Britain in 1982.  This review will highlight the differences between the book and the movie.  Spoiler alert:  plot points will be brought up.

                In the book, Albert first meets the horse after his father buys him at an auction for 3 guineas (not 30 as in the movie and there is no bidding war with an evil landlord).  “Joey” is meant to be a second work horse as the family already has an elderly horse named “Zoey”.  The father is more of a mean drunk than in the movie.  There is no trouble training Joey to plow.  There is no evil landlord who is threatening to take the farm.  (It goes without saying that there is no landlord’s son to be a rival to Albert.)  There is a field plowing incident but it involves a simple bet between the father and another farmer.  There is no devastating storm that destroys the turnip crop. 

                Mr. Narracott sells the horse to Capt. Nicholls, much to the anguish of Albert.  At the military camp, Joey meets a large black stallion named Topthorn, but unlike the movie, the two horses become friends and are never rivals.  Nicholls and Topthorn’s owner, Capt. Stewart, are actually best friends.  The movie omits the tempestuous crossing of the English Channel.  The first combat is when the cavalry unit ambushes an infantry unit on the march.  Nicholls is killed and Joey is given to a private named Warren.  After a rough winter, the unit makes an attack across no man’s land that is disastrous.  Joey and Topthorn make it all the way, but Stewart and Warren are captured.  At this point, Joey and Topthorn become ambulance horses.  The movie adds the subplot of the two deserting German brothers.  Joey and Topthorn are stabled at the farm of Emilie and her grandfather.  Each day, after transporting the wounded, they come home.  They are treated well by the Germans and develop a relationship with the little girl.  When the hospital moves on, they are left behind.  Later, they are conscripted as artillery horses.  They are part of a six horse team.  It is not easy, but there is no villain and they are treated as well as could be expected.  However, Topthorn does die of exhaustion.  Immediately after this scene, there is a British attack involving tanks that creates panic and Joey is left behind.  He ends up in no man’s land, injured but not tangled in barbed wire.  Both sides are sympathetic and want the horse.  A soldier from each side comes and the Brit wins the coin toss.

                Joey is taken to a veterinary hospital where it turns out Albert is stationed.  He had entered the army and insisted on being assigned to a vet unit.  He recognizes Joey after cleaning off all the dirt and grime.  The book has a scene where Joey almost dies of tetanus.  When the war ends (as in the book), the horses are to be auctioned off.  All of the vet unit chip in to buy him for Albert.  Emilie’s grandfather buys him, but then gives him to Albert when he sees how much Albert cares about him and for the promise to keep Emilie’s memory alive.

                As you can see, the movie added quite a bit of melodrama to the story.  This is most likely because the movie was aimed at a mass audience whereas the novel was aimed at young adults.  Also, you have to factor in the fact that the movie was directed by Steven Spielberg.  It is a typical Spielberg emotion-tugger.  He throws in a comical goose as a sop to the kiddies, but adds a few villains to make the movie more serious than the book.  The book is strangely free of any villains.  Even the Germans are uniformly sympathetic characters.  Everyone loves Joey.  The biggest difference between the book and the movie is the book is told from the horse’s point of view.  This makes the novel unique and noteworthy.  Understandably, the movie does not take this perspective.  It is more cookie-cutting by Spielberg.

                Which one is better?  It is a bit hard to compare them because of who their target audiences are.  Each is effective entertainment.  Each is flawed for a war movie and war novel lover.  The book is definitely juvenile.  The dialogue is hard to read without grimacing.  Murpago writes too sincerely.  But the book does not have as many laughable scenes as the movie.  Spielberg throws in ridiculous scenarios.  The book is not as predictable, but it is more simplistic. 

  

BOOK  =  C

MOVIE  =  C

Best WWI Combat Movie Tournament

This year's tournament to determine the best war movie in a subgenre will deal with WWI combat movies. The seeding is based on IMDB ratings.  This is my 6th annual subgenre tournament.  The other ones were Best 21st Century War Movie, Best War Comedy, Best WWII Combat Movie, Best Vietnam War Movie, and Best WWI Dogfighting Film.  Here are the match-ups.

1 - All Quiet on the Western Front  (1931)
16 -  Private Peaceful

8 - War Horse
9 -  Oh, What a lovely War

5 -  Wooden Crosses
12 -  All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)

4 -  Sergeant York
13 -  The Lost Patrol

6 -  Gallipoli
11 -  The Lost Battalion

3 - The Big Parade
14 -  The Fighting 69th

7 - Westfront 1918
10 -  Beneath Hill 60

2 -  Paths of Glory
15 -  Passchendaele

The first round categories will be:
Plot
Acting -  quality of the cast and quality of the performances
Combat -  quantity and quality
Anti-War -  how well does the movie depict the horrors of the war?

May the best movie win!

War Horse (8) vs. Oh! What a Lovely War (9)

VS.

PLOT:  “War Horse” is a Spielbergian take on the Great War via a young adult novel.  It covers the Odyssey of a horse as it goes through several owners and several vignettes.  “Joey” starts as a stallion forced to plow fields until he is recruited for the British cavalry.  Sent to the Western Front, he has more lives than a cat and as many adventures as Odysseus.  He is a double agent as he works for both sides and a deserter as he spends some time with a French girl.  The plot has all the Spielberg touches you expect in a PG-13 movie.  Although the ending is predictable, the rest of the vignettes are not.  Spielberg also tamps down the schmaltziness.  The plot is true to the source so do not expect realism or historical accuracy.  GRADE  =  B

“Oh! What a Lovely War” is a musical tutorial on the First World War directed by Richard Attenborough (this round is a good match-up of directors).  The plot is very inventive.  It attempts to cover the whole war through a series of vignettes that have the common thread of war songs.  The movie gives equal treatment to the soldiers as it follows the five Smith brothers and the brass as it gives time to the political and military leaders.  There is a lot of symbolism and it definitely helps if you know the war.  The movie is totally unique. GRADE =  A

FIRST QUARTER SCORE:  Oh! What a Lovely War – 9     War Horse – 8

ACTING:  “War Horse” has a nice cast of British stalwarts.  Everyone is good, but none are outstanding.  Except the horse (all eight of him) who is great.  Jeremy Irvine is appropriately boyish as Joey’s first and last owner.  His performance does not make it clear that he will be a future star.  There is little scene chewing.  As usual, Spielberg lets the scenarios do the chewing. GRADE  =  B

“Oh! What a Lovely War” has an all-star cast.  Attenborough and the script attracted many of  the best British thespians of the time.  John Mills stands out as Gen. Haig, but everyone is competent.  Since each star has limited screen time, they make the most of it.  This being a British film, there is naturally a lot of the “stiff upper lip” style of acting.  It appeared that the actors were doing their own singing, so kudos for that. GRADE  =  B 

 HALFTIME SCORE:  Lovely War – 17  War Horse – 16

COMBAT:  “War Horse” has 7 minutes of combat.  It is not really a combat oriented movie.  Much of the movie is set on the Western Front, but there is only one scene in no man’s land.  That scene smacks of “Saving Private Ryan” sans the graphic violence.  No man’s land is realistically grim and the trenches are authentic-looking.  There is also a cavalry charge early in the war that has predictive of the futile nature of that arm’s role in modern warfare.   The scene is also typical of Spielberg’s lack of concern for military matters as the set up makes little sense.   GRADE  =  C

“Oh! What a Lovely War” also has 7 minutes of combat, but the nature of the fighting is very different.  It reflects the fact that the movie is based on a play and is dialogue and song driven.  The combat is very micro, but the sets are realistic.  The movie is more interested in the big picture.  The uniforms and equipment are authentic.  GRADE  =  D

THIRD QUARTER SCORE:  Horse  -  23   Lovely  -  22

ANTI-WAR:  “War Horse” is based on a young adult novel by Michael Murpago.  His aim was not to scare his audience.  It is a family war movie with some bite.  Although a number of characters do not survive, the movie has a happy ending as Albert and Joey are reunited in spite of the war.  This dilutes any attempt to send the audience home shaking its head about the folly of the Great War.  The horse actually goes through more hardships than the soldiers.  Horses in the audience will definitely find the war horrifying.  GRADE  =  C

“Lovely War” is clearly meant to be an indictment of the folly of the war.  It deftly uses quotes to damn the generals and the politicians. Their own words are chilling. The film is very anti-command and anti-upper class.   As far as the soldiers, the movie has a theme of how they were being exploited.  They seem to realize this, but hey what are you gonna do?   The fates of the Smith brothers are foreordained.  There are a lot of head-shaking moments for the audience.  Anyone watching the movie with little knowledge of the war will definitely come away feeling it was a travesty.  The songs lighten the mood, although the lyrics often reflect the cynicism of the soldiers.  GRADE  =  A+

FINAL SCORE:  Lovely War  -  32    War Horse  -  29 

MATCH ANALYSIS:  This was an interesting match-up and an excellent opening to the tournament.  In some ways it was a match between an adult-focused film and a family-oriented movie.  I would not recommend “Oh! What a Lovely War” to my students, but it would make an excellent follow-up to a unit on WWI.  It teaches how Europe got itself into such a mess and how the war effected the soldiers.  Plus you have the marvelous period songs.  I am sure my students would enjoy “War Horse” more as entertainment.  It is a more personal, emotional look at the war.  As far as which is better, I feel the final score is fair.  “Oh!  What a Lovely War” stands out among WWI movies.  It is a unique movie and deserves credit for that.

NOW SHOWING: War Horse

     Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” opened on Christmas day and I attended the first feature. Being a war movie buff, I have eagerly awaited this movie, but with trepidation because Spielberg has been known to get juvenile in his movies, especially recently. The movie is based on a children’s novel and an acclaimed stage play. The movie has generated numerous awards nominations and could end up as one of the more important films of the year. But how is it as a war movie?


     The movie opens with the birth of a colt in Great Britain. The birth is witnessed by a farm boy named Albert (Jeremy Irvine). Albert falls in love with the horse and in a happy coincidence his father decides to outbid his evil landlord for the horse at an auction where his farm desperately needs a work-horse. “Joey” (as Alby calls him) is no work-horse and his mother Rosie (Emily Watson) rightfully thinks her husband is daft. They can’t get rid of the horse because Alby really wants a pony. In a cliché-busting scene, Joey proves to be easily trainable and very smart. When the landlord (David Thewlis) threatens to take back the farm if the drunken, loser father (Peter Mullan) does not make a rock-strewn field productive, Alby hitches him to a plow and (with the help of a fortuitous rainstorm that quickly softens the ground) the horse earns his keep.

     The father’s love of the bottle is explained by his soldiering in the Boer War. He was decorated, but does not talk about it. Rosie theorizes that “he refuses to be proud of killing”. He is so down on his luck that when the plowed turnip field is ruined by rain, he is forced to sell Joey to the military. The horse goes off to war as the underage Alby stays home.

     The movie from this point on is basically another take-off on Homer’s “Odyssey” with Joey meeting several interesting new owners and facing dangers. Here is a summary:

1. Captain Nicholls rides Joey in a cavalry charge which represents every cavalry charge of the Great War in that machine guns > horses.

2. Two German brothers acquire the horse who is to be used as an artillery-puller, but instead is used as a getaway horse as the elder brother rescues the younger from a column heading for the front.

3. A feisty young French girl named Emilie is the next owner. Before she can break her brittle bones riding recklessly, the German army requisitions the horse and its back to the artillery.

4. An animal-loving German lets Joey escape when his usefulness is approaching bullet-in-the-head time. In the process, in a scene of heavy-handed symbolism, Joey escapes from a tank and then runs down a trench and then through no man’s land. Unfortunately, Joey gets entangled in barbed wire.

5. A Tommy and a Fritz use wire-cutters to free Joey and he rejoins the British Army.

6. Joey is reunited with Alby at a hospital where Alby barely convinces a doctor not to put his wounded horse out of his misery.

7. Joey is bought at auction by Emilie’s grandfather, outbidding Alby (and a butcher).

     I’ll stop right there to and let you wonder if the movie has an ‘Old Yeller” ending. Don’t read the next paragraph if you do not care if a movie has ridiculous moments.

     Where do I start? Joey becomes BFFs with another cavalry horse named Blackthorn. They are captured together and after it is unsubtly made clear that if you don’t work you die, Joey “volunteers” to take Blackthorn’s place pulling a cannon. The whole scene with the German brothers is laughable. When the deserting brothers are captured, the older brother does not insist he forced his unwilling brother to come along and they face the firing squad together. Or why would a tank chase after a lone horse? You have to suspend disbelief a bit in this movie.

     Historically speaking, the movie is based on a children’s book so what do you expect. However, since Speilberg had to assume some adults might want to see it, he could have at least read one WWI history book. (This is his first WWI movie after six about WWII.) Before the big cavalry charge scene, the British commander references famous successful charges, including Pickett’s Charge. Surely, even an Englishman would know Pickett’s Charge should not be mentioned to boost morale. The charge itself adequately depicts the suicidal nature of WWI cavalry attacks. I assume the attack is fictional and it is possible that the Germans could have been stupid enough to camp in a field with no entrenching or even guards posted because its early in the war. It is also possible they may have emplaced a line of machine guns behind their tents. Highly unlikely, however. By the way, that line of machine guns is incredibly accurate as they knock off riders without hitting horses.

     The “Saving Private Ryan” moment comes two-thirds of the way through the movie. Incredibly, Spielberg decided to label the battle “1918 – The Somme”. You don’t have to be a military historian to know the very famous Battle of the Somme was in 1916. Alby is now at the front in a Pals’ Battalion with his best friend and a snooty rich kid acquaintance. The trench sets are realistic and no man’s land is appropriately hellish. The British assault is bloody (without blood) and violent (but not graphic). Alby reaches the German trench first and it is empty with all the Germans dead. Wait, what? To make matters worse, Alby is blinded by a poison gas bombardment that hits directly in the trench. What accuracy! This works out for plot purposes as Alby needs to be sightless for his reunion with Joey.

     Being a Spielberg movie, certain things are guaranteed. The cinematography is lush in the bucolic British countryside scenes and colorless in the muddy Western Front scenes. John Williams’ score plays on the audiences emotions throughout. You don’t have to think much, Williams will let you know how to feel. For example, plowing the field – cue the inspirational music. The acting is satisfactory, if unspectacular. The horse (actually eight horses to portray the adult “Joey”) is amazing and its accent does not change, unlike some of the humans. The film does avoid some obvious clichés. The horse is not hard to train. Alby’s potential rivalry with the rich boy over a local girl ends up on the cutting room floor. Emilie does not have an accident. It’s not unorthodox in its cartoonish villains, however. The evil landlord. The martinet German officers. Hiss him, cheer that, cry now. The movie very effectively manipulates the audience’s emotions. Most people will get what they paid for.

     The problem is that Spielberg has made the kids’ version of a war movie. He even includes a goose for comic relief. How Disneyesque! The “it’s a small world” on the Western Front aspect is to be expected from any mainstream movie, I suppose. For those expecting the WWI equivalent of SPR in the combat scenes, consult the movie’s rating and target audience. Even the cavalry sabers (inaccurately called “swords” in the movie) remain unbloodstained. Realism is not a forte of this movie. “War Horse” is a good movie for civilians, but it is not a good war movie.