Farm boy Albert Narracott tries to enlist to fight in WWI after his horse Joey is sold to the calvary. The film follows the horse as he suffers through the war.
Steven Spielberg directs this deliberate epic as we follow a horse from the farm to war and back to farm again. In between he encounters many different humans and that breaks up the story. Just as you get involved in one story, the horse leaves and a new story begins. It breaks up the pace and causes a real problem maintaining the tension.
In many ways, this film feels like a relic from a by gone era. The action is big, but we don't see the grotesque blood splattering. People are killed but rarely take center stage. In one scene, a squad of mounted British soldier charge at German gun enplacements. In the next scene, only the horses charge out of the forest without their riders. We know most the riders have been killed, but Spielberg is choosing poetry over brutal authenticity. This isn't breaking any ground and isn't going to last in collective memory of the movie-going public about Spielberg.
Steven Spielberg directs this deliberate epic as we follow a horse from the farm to war and back to farm again. In between he encounters many different humans and that breaks up the story. Just as you get involved in one story, the horse leaves and a new story begins. It breaks up the pace and causes a real problem maintaining the tension.
In many ways, this film feels like a relic from a by gone era. The action is big, but we don't see the grotesque blood splattering. People are killed but rarely take center stage. In one scene, a squad of mounted British soldier charge at German gun enplacements. In the next scene, only the horses charge out of the forest without their riders. We know most the riders have been killed, but Spielberg is choosing poetry over brutal authenticity. This isn't breaking any ground and isn't going to last in collective memory of the movie-going public about Spielberg.