Saw this to keep a friend company. Given that it's directed by Spielberg
and features animals in warfare, I went in expecting to have my emotions manipulated, and to be moved to tears. (I don't mean this in a bad way: this is what powerful films
do.)
Soundtrack heavily influenced by Vaughan Williams and Elgar: cinematography gorgeous, with a peculiar mellow golden light in the pre-war Devon scenes that reminded me of the lighting used by Peter Jackson to soften the New Zealand sunshine and make the Shire look English.
For a war movie there's surprisingly little blood and suffering. Dead bodies (of which there were plenty) lay whole and unmarred; nobody was left maimed and screaming, or gruesomely disfigured. That said, the scene I found most distressing involved a horse and barbed wire: not much blood but a great deal of silent agony.
The most effective and memorable scene in the film, for me, was quite early on: a cavalry charge hrough a cornfield towards an apparently-undefended German encampment. The charge looked like a medieval tapestry, bright bayonets shining in the autumn sun, calmly determined British officers, horses fresh and courageous.
Then out came the machine guns, and the twentieth century was back with a vengeance*.
The film does have happy endings for almost everyone: there is some splendid acting (not least from the horses -- 14 of 'em for the role of Joey -- and the goose, who had a trainer all to itself according to the credits!) It's quite wholesome: no sex, no swearing, plenty of moral allegory. It's also strongly anti-war: none of the forces, German or British or French, are demonised, and there are several instances where individuals on opposite sides cooperate or befriend one another.
*
Apparently this is based on the Battle of Moreuil Wood![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
