Jeremy Irvine
Peter Mullan
Emily Watson
Benedict Cumberbatch
David Thewlis
Tom Hiddleston
Screenwriters
Lee Hall
Richard Curtis
Director
Steven Spielberg
Running Time
146 minutes
Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, War Horse begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. War Horse is one of the great stories of friendship and war—a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is arriving on Broadway next year. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history. (DreamWorks Pictures)
It didn't seem long maybe because of its episodic structure and was pleasant enough. The avoidance of showing the grisly horror of war seemed odd and undercut the power of the story. The crowd acting as one dimensional character conceit which is employed at the end bugs me especially when I don't feel emotionally invested in the story.
