At The Cinema At Gloucester Guildhall this week: Run like the wind to watch ‘War Horse’

Our award favourites season at The Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall continues this week with renowned director Steven Spielberg’s (Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan) critically and commercially acclaimed adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse. Beginning life as a children’s book in 1982 by the Children’s Laureate Morpurgo, and later adapted for the West End and Broadway stage in 2007 to huge success, this new adaptation of the WWI epic features a screenplay penned by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings, Love Actually and TV’s Blackadder) and Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) alongside an all-star British cast including Emily Watson, David Thewlis (last seen in The Lady which played at the Guildhall recently), Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Marsan, Toby Kebbell and introducing newcomer Jeremy Irvine.

Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, the film begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert (Irvine), who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets - from British cavalry and German soldiers, to a French farmer and his granddaughter - before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse: an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure.

In development for nearly 6 years following numerous attempts to adapt it for the screen, the film sees Spielberg reunite not only with long term producer partners Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, but also with cinematographer Janusz Kamiński (Schindler’s List), editor Michael Kahn (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan) and, perhaps most excitingly of all, musical composer John Williams. Readers who are regular visitors to Devonshire, Wiltshire and Surrey will be pleased to know that the much of the entire movie, including the scenes set in France, were all shot within this area with locations including Dartmoor, Castle Combe and Wisely Airfield. Spielberg himself insisted on a British location shoot as he felt the landscape was very much a part of the character of the film. All these components provide the ingredients to an emotional drama that is technically superb, proudly sentimental and unabashedly old-fashioned and, thanks to Spielberg’s customary flair, will be sure to tug at your heartstrings.

In contention for six Academy Awards, don’t miss your chance to see this spectacular film on the Cinema at Gloucester Guildhall screen where it belongs.

Check out the trailer here:

War Horse (12A) runs from Friday 17^th - Thursday 23^rd February 2012