So what went wrong with this film?
It paints a picture of pre-war England that is supposed to be shattered by the reality of war. So far so good – except that the image of England is so twee and roses-around-the-door that it is more like Oz (as in the Wizard of Oz) than any England that existed in reality.
Then we see the deaths of scores men cut down as they run across no-man’s land and yet we are supposed to think that what happens to a bloody horse is more important?
Great horse, but when 10,000 men die on one day – no-one is going to get THAT worked up about a horse. It just isn’t going to happen. And if a few people do – the majority will not.
So the premise was fatally flawed. We cannot get that worked up about a horse.
The hero can get worked up about a horse, but it is not just about the hero – the film was played out about a horse that magically touches the lives of people.
Except the people stand lined up like star-struck extras in a chorus line.
And..
The images of pre- First World War rural England are the equivalent of Dick Van Dyke’s chimney sweep in Mary Poppins. I almost expected the gingerbread man to come out of the farmer’s cottage.
The music was heavy handed. Cue comic music for when the goose comes out honking and nipping at trouser legs.
The lead actor is dewy-eyed and has his head so far in the clouds that nothing can touch him – not even the war changes his core.
The scene of the cavalry charging through the wheat field is terrific – and beautiful.
The Germans in the woods shown coolly (not hurriedly) sitting behind machine guns in the woods waiting for the English cavalry to get within firing range while their comrades are scythed down by the approaching cavalry is unbelievable.
The moment when the captain senses his own death is excellent and very well acted with a sick and terrified look as the reality hits him.
The horse running with the barbed wire is cinema at its best.
The doctor telling the horse he was a good soldier caused me to drop my head forward onto my chest – the final link with any tie to this film broken. My wife sitting next to me knew instantly what I meant and she gave a tiny chuckle.
Soldiers lining up in hushed awe as the horse walks through their lines and as the blinded soldier walks up – and I am thinking oh no, they wouldn’t.
That’s it. I didn’t want to see it: The trailer was enough to tell me I didn’t want to see it. But the film was worse than I thought it would be.
Mawkish: Excessively and objectionably sentimental.
Ludicrous: Laughable or hilarious because of obvious absurdity or incongruity
P.S.
I forgot about the amount the French farmer offered for the horse at the end of the film. Here is the value of £100 in 1918 and 2010 (with thanks to Measuring Worth for the calculation methodology).
