Friday Release: Unconditional love in 'War Horse'

New Delhi: One of the masters of the craft of filmmaking Steven Spielberg's new film 'War Horse' has the World War 1 as its backdrop. The film is based on the novel written by Michael Morpurgo which was first published in the United Kingdom in the year 1982.

The main star cast of the film includes David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeremy Irvine and Peter Mullan. Their fine performances have won the film Six Academy Award nominations.

Steven Spielberg throws some light on the film," It was discovered for me by Kathy Kennedy, who had already experienced it in the West End in London and told me about it and how moved she was by the play. Then Stacey [Snider], the head of my company, DreamWorks, flew over and saw it without me. And she concurred with Kathy about how powerful a story it was. The puppets are magnificent on stage; the puppeteers are in a way the stars of the show. But we knew that if we were going to tell the story, it was going be with real horses, not with maquettes or marionettes. So then we preemptively made a bid to buy it even before I saw it, just based on the story, which really appealed to me."

The film is about a young man Albert (Jeremy Irvine) who has to take part in the World War after his horse Joey was sold to the cavalry.

Spielberg clarifies the scenario,"'War Horse' says a lot about courage; the courage of this boy and what he endures and what he overcomes to achieve what he needs and not just for himself but also for his best friend, his horse Joey. It's also about the courage and the tenacity of this extraordinary animal. The theme of courage kept coming back and back from the play, from Michael Morpurgo's book and from Lee Hall and Richard Curtis' screenplay. That was the underlying subliminal theme that I think informs every frame of 'War Horse'."

'War Horse' is all set to be released in India on February 10 that is today.

Posted in: Hollywood