WAR HORSE : An Experience

My sister has always liked horses. So when she said that she wanted to see the theatrical show of WAR HORSE, it came as no surprise to me. I knew a little about the theatrical show because it had been heavily advertised on television, but I myself am a bit more geared towards film because it allows for a more complete visual representation of the situation in which the story plays.

I was also aware of the Steven Spielberg film but had not seen anything more than a trailer of it so far. But I felt I wanted to do my sister a favor and accompanied her to the theatrical show when it played at the CHASSE Theatre in the town of Breda. My sister was very pleased that I went along and we witnessed a very good show there. Even the dramatized Dutch version succeeded wonderfully in bringing across the points the story intends to make. I must admit it was very interesting to see the process by which the animated horse frameworks succeeded in portraying the real horses and more so, you were willing to believe them! It was very effective and yet, dramatic, even as this is clearly a drama playing during the first World War. The cast was also very good and the show very enjoyable.

Naturally, because the show is played on a stage, certain things are only shown in a symbolic way. You can not really show a real battlefield on stage but the producers of the show had found ways around that and made it all very enjoyable and very effective too. Considering however the subject matter of the first World War, I was surprised to see many young children in the audience as well. This is something that baffled me a little as I knew the Steven Spielberg film was for ages 12 and up. And here, younger children were also allowed to see this. I guess because they had maybe read the original novel by Michael Morpurgo, that was originally aimed at children as well. 

My sister enjoyed the show very much and so I considered this a very good and enjoyable day as well, even though the show in itself was not something I would do again. As I said, I prefer the realism a film can bring so a few days later I popped in the blu ray of Steven Spielberg's film. I was pleasantly surprised but considering it was directed by Steven Spielberg, it was to be expected.

The Steven Spielberg film (I will not go into specifics now on the film or its making) was very impressive. And as I suspected, the added realism of real horses, real sets and real battlefields was an incredible asset to this wonderful production. I think also that the absence of real movie stars was a good move on the part of Mr. Spielberg in the making of the film. 

As usual, Mr. Spielberg had his regular composer John Williams, famous for his music for the STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES films, compose a splendid score to support the film. Williams has proven himself to be an excellent dramatic composer and his score is fantastic, from the beautiful English Devon landscapes to the terrifying French Trench War battlefields. Mr. Williams is one of those rare composers that create music to support a movie that outside the movie theatre still manages to stand on its own. A dying breed, I'm afraid.

And naturally, where you have the artificial horses in the theatre production, the real horses in the film are incredible in their performances. Horses were killed in great numbers in the first World War so this story not only succeeds in moving the audience to tears. It also shows the audience the folly of war. The ridiculousness of men fighting and losing their lives for stupid reasons. WAR HORSE can be seen as one of Steven Spielberg's more political films (just as his SCHINDLER'S LIST and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN). Yet, the theatrical production does not lag behind in this.

All in all, War Horse is a very good film and theatrical show, that shows what the first really modern war meant to warfare. In all of the attention that the Second World War has gotten in recent years, it is sometimes forgotten that the First World War, that now roughly started one hundred years ago, was also a terrible war to have to live thru. And I hope we will not have to go thru that again.

Thanks to Mr. Michael Morpurgo for writing the book, thanks to all those involved in the theatrical shows and also, thank you, Mr. Spielberg, and everyone of your crew, for WAR HORSE, a little children's book that has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. If you are a theatre man, do go and see it. If you prefer the film, buy the blu ray and enjoy that ! It is definitely worth your while !!!!