The Greatness of 'War Horse'

Have just finished watching Spielberg's epic 'War Horse'. It is perhaps a little too late to watch it but glad to have finally seen it anyway. What most fascinates me is the extent to which Spielberg has gone into doing justice with every single shot of this magnificent WWI epic. The costumes, the casting, the makeup, the sets and the landscape have all been dealt with, what can only be called, closest to perfection. Through this tale about a horse, a war horse, Spielberg shows us a great saga of love, the horrors of war and the ecstasy of reuniting with our loved ones. Till the very end, I remained hooked to this classic tale. And when the movie ended, I was left craving for more.

I love this scene where Joey, Albert's horse, runs free from the clutches of the German army and reaches this no man's land between the British and the Germans all caught up and struggling in barbed wire fences. A British soldier, with a white flag in hand, dares to stand up and risk his life to tend to the horse and rescue him. When the Germans fire suspecting ill-intention, he shouts that he only intends to save the poor horse. The shooting strangely stops. As he reaches near the beautiful creature, he realizes that he should have brought something to cut the wires with. 'These cutters might help', speaks a voice from behind. When the British soldier, Colin, looks back, he finds to his utter amazement standing before him a German officer with a cutter to free the horse. The two warring soldiers then work together to set the horse free. It is an incredible sight in the midst of a horrific fight. When more cutters are asked for by the soldiers, they are generously thrown from the barracks by the Germans. Finally, the two soldiers manage to rescue the horse. Colin is about to turn back to his barracks when the German soldier, Peter, stops him and claims, 'The horse is mine. I was the one who provided the cutters'.
'But the horse looks clearly English', asserts the Britisher.
'Alright then, let's settle this with boxing. Whoever wins gets to take the horse', proposes Peter.
'We don't really need a war for this one. Let's just flip the coin and decide his fate with a toss', says Colin and so it happens. Colin wins and the matter is decided without a drop of blood spilt. The two part in the most friendly way imaginable. The German soldier, Peter, gifts Colin his cutters as a souvenir. One is left wondering about the meaningless of the war going around the foe-turned-friends from the two sides and also why the two nations could not settle their differences just as amiably as the two soldiers did.
That is the greatness of 'War Horse'.

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