DreamWorks SKG, Reliance Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment,
Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Kebbell, David Kross, Eddie Marsan, Nicolas Bro, Rainer Bock, Patrick Kennedy, Leonhard Carow, Celine Buckens
This is a spectacular, epic film of World War I, and a boy named Albert Naracott (Jeremy Irvine) who’s drunken father bought a horse that was tall and fast and beautiful, but was not a work horse. The family owed a large mortgage on their farm, and Albert took on training and care for the horse whom he taught to pull a plow. The horse was purchased for the army, and the soldier who bought him knew that the price he could pay was much less than this horse was worth, so he promised if he could he would return the horse after the war. But the war was ugly for horses, and even uglier for the soldier mired down in it. This is story of a young man and his horse and the longing to be together if the only both can survive the horrors of war.
This was an interesting Christmas Day film! It’s a horrible war, and Mr. Spielberg certainly put a lot of work into making this one EPIC picture. It fills the screen with the horrors and suffering of war, and provides us with a few very noble and courageous moments. However it did not make me think of Christmas, that’s for sure. But the holidays may have been the proper time to bring out a film of this magnitude.
But the basis of the story, no matter how grand and big it is on screen, is the simple story of the love of a boy for his horse and the troubles the have to face to survive with little money and then a horrible war. I enjoyed the film very much. I did not rate it 5 stars, as it was not so awe inspiring that it knocked me off my chair, but it was certainly a blockbuster film. This is an amazing story, and one that should appeal to most everyone. The acting was superb, and the action just fills up the screen. Be sure to see it if you haven’t had a chance!
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
