tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740282838839188438.post8986141049962652761..comments2023-12-17T05:31:18.637-05:00Comments on 'kül: FILM: War HorseAaron Ricciohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003634532469211190noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740282838839188438.post-20344509614733922022012-01-08T00:10:18.307-05:002012-01-08T00:10:18.307-05:00I've also seen both the play and the movie. I ...I've also seen both the play and the movie. I loved the puppets in the play but I thought the story got dragged out. <br /><br />The movie is beautifully filmed - almost too beautifully. The sky in the final scene cannot be real. You get a sense of the horror of war without it being too graphic to watch. <br /><br />But the movie is also incredibly manipulative and sentimental, even more than the play. I mean, it's about as subtle as a sledgehammer. And it lacks the sense of magic, of wonder and awe that I got from seeing the horse puppets. <br /><br />Also, the little French (or was she Belgian?) girl was even more annoying in the movie than she was in the play. Just unbelievably cloying. She also looked quite robust for someone who was supposed to be sickly! <br /><br />I thought the Germans were portrayed in the movie as much more evil, lacking even the most basic humanity. (Except toward the horse.) Whereas in the play, I thought they were trying to impart the message that the Germans love their children, too. But in the movie, they're pretty much boorish, nasty, amoral. <br /><br />I also thought the music in the play was so overwhelming, bombastic. I much preferred the gentle folk music in the play.<br /><br />One last thing that struck me about the movie which I don't remember thinking about the play: Joey is presented as kind of a Christ-like figure, caught in the barbed wire, suffering for the sins of mankind. <br /><br />I guess I'll have to read the book now!Estherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16076517542540421210noreply@blogger.com