War Horse, 2011

War Horse, 2011
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis


Stage: Home theatre.


War horse in short: Dartmoor,1914: To his wife's dismay farmer Narracott buys a thoroughbred horse rather than a plough animal but his teenaged son Albert trains the horse and calls him Joey,the two becoming inseparable. When his harvest fails the farmer has to sell Joey to the British cavalry and he is shipped to France where,after a disastrous offensive he is captured by the Germans and changes hands twice more before he is found,caught in the barbed wire in No Man's Land four years later and freed,due to a bizarre truce. He is returned behind British lines where Albert,now a private,has been temporarily blinded by gas but still recognises his beloved Joey. However as the Armistice is declared Joey is set to be auctioned off. After all they have been through will Albert and Joey return home together?



Preps: One of the hot ones at the movies, got some recommendations and am anxious to see it.



Reality: This must be one of the more touching movies I have seen in a while. I cannot remember crying like this from Lassie, or some similar movies.
In any case, the scenery is fascinating. Is UK really that beautiful? I need to see it desperately! The beginning of the movie is harsh and realistic. They really didn't have money to get through life and couldn't afford anything. Still, this beautiful horse comes in the story as the fresh mint in your breath. Gives energy to that family and makes miracles. Miraclous horse, they say. Agree. I am a fan of animals, not really horses per se, but you fall in love with this one, when seeing this piece. You need to love this horse and Spielberg took care of the bond somewhere in the beginning of the movie.
By the way, the movie starts off with the most beautiful music, probably carefully chosen for this piece and it follows us within the movie all the way. Love it!!
Also, the novel that was the base for this piece, is written by a young novelist Michael Morpungo. Spielgerg got excited with the piece, in 2007 it had a theatre screening and he was figuring out how to get this piece on true screen. Now, in the real style of Finding Private Ryan, a good remake of this spectacle.

The main drive with the movie in my eyes, is the feeling of the horse. I got my eyes wet every time I saw torture of the horses, being dragged into a war. Especially this stallion and his black friend. I am not really a fan of scenes like this, but I am realistic also and know that millions of horses died while people were fighting for any kind of cause in the WW. It stroke me several times with the ruthness the sides in WW had and the cruelty they have shown towards all, people and animals.

One of the best scenes is saving Joey from the front, being caught by a nasty fighting fence. While two soldiers from opposite sides (english and german) cut the fence from a horse, they almost get friendly. A sad story. A lot of people were dragged into the war without them wanting it. In this piece, a lot of young warriors are shown, with terrified fearful look in their eyes, before they go to fight. They need to go, other way they will be shot. Terrible. This is not human. And yet, I understand, this is the way it was.

The story of this brave horse is a breath taking one, wrapping your love and heart into a bundle and if you are a softy as I am, it will definitely make you cry. I loved it, I deeply recommend it.


My personal grade: 9,0 (beautiful, just beautiful. I would cut down the scenes from the battle, but this is merely personal. Without them it wouldn't be so real and harsh. I can only applaude to Spielberg).


War Horse on IMDB

Besa, 2010

Besa, 2010
Director: Srdjan Karanović
Cast: Miki Manojlović, Iva Kranjc, Nebojša Dugalić, Rašo Bukvić



Stage: Theatre Dvor, local scenery of movie festival Life

Besa in short: At the very beginning of the World War I, Filip, a Serb and the principal of a gymnasium in a small Serbian town, is summoned urgently to Belgrade to serve in the war effort. He has no one to leave his wife Lea with. She is a young and pretty Slovenian woman, a teacher of rhythmics and dance he met while studying in Western Europe. Azem, an illiterate, patriarchal Albanian, the school custodian, gives Filip his solemn oath, his 'Besa' (in the Albanian tradition: when someone gives their word which must be kept even if they lose their life in the process) that he would look after Lea and see to it that nothing happened to her. Two Europeans, from two entirely different cultures and habits are forced to an awkward cohabitation in the empty school. While the war rages in the background and gets menacingly closer, their interaction develops from hatred, through intolerance, to tolerance and an unusual friendship. Circumstances gradually draw Lea and Azem, a Christian woman and a Muslim man, into a complex forbidden relationship - something like love! More than merely a romantic story, this movie is a paradigm of profound ethnic and class divisions in Europe in the early 20th century which some of them prevail to this day.

Preps: The topic interests me, and there aren't any movies on this lately - Life is the right place to see different movies in all kinds of genres. Since I haven't been this lucky in the past few days, hopefully this will alter my day.


Reality: I am perfectly correct with my assumptions. The movie is a deep insight into prejudicial world as we know it. Cultures that despise other cultures just for the sake of past historical events or even unknown reasons. In balkan area it's quite common to give names to different nations. Or that a name of a nation is actually used as a bad word or a curse word (for instance Bosnian, named so in Slovene area, means something worse or something not honest, same thing as a gipsy. In Serbia, the same goes for an Albanian - they virtually despise them. Historically, the nations mixed among themselves, however almost all of the combinations retrieved hatred or misunderstanding from other citizen, or village inhabitants). No differences in this movie. The relationship (or marriage) between a slovenian and a serbian is treated badly and people don't like the slovene lady. Clasically, they think that she's an austrian spy, that doesn't belong in the environment. On the other hand, she wants to be a part of this society, as she left everything behind. A substory begins as the husband leaves for the war and she is protected by albanian school servant, that gave a promise of honor (Besa) to the husband to keep her safe.

The scenes dwell from humorous (he ties her with a string to keep her near; bringing a goat to get milk to the house; sleeping like a dog beside her door and afterwards, bed,..) .. to very serious and dramatic. She is under rape attempt from two locals, there is army trying to infiltrate as many people as possible to the school, taking all the food and exploiting the lodging,etc.




The differences between albanian and slovene are tremendous. Nevertheless, the movie floats from misunderstanding and hate between the two individuals, to weird friendship and love in the end. There are some limits that can be broken, when the time and opportunity are in place - I believe this is the main theme of the movie, maybe the main idea and the final thing that runs through my mind after seeing this and wondering home to bed. And a deep sigh for not living under these circumstances and living in present. Sometimes it amazes me how people lived in different areas, and how some virtues were grown or treated. This movie honestly shows a real picture of that time and the decisions people had to make or sacrifices. And deeply, it also reminds me of the great hatred that some nations hold for other nations, just because they are different. Strong cast and direction make this movie really worth seeing.


My personal rate: 8,0 (one of better insights that I have seen for the period, embracing differences in opinions, cultures and prejudice. Excellent interpretation, extremely good cast. A bit heavy to the end, or a bit prolongued, however got my full attention)

Besa on Wikipedia
Besa on IMDB


About making Besa - in slovene magazine Obrazi - a full article