Where should I begin? I've been watching war movies all my life. I don't go for 'pro-war' 'anti-war' etc. My generation was obsessed with denigrating WW2 at every turn. Quite shameful. This film does just the opposite. It celebrates a truly great and remarkable victory by Aussies over the German/Turkish enemy in Palestine in 1917. Simple and straightforward. IMHO it does this brilliantly. I think the acting is superb. It is slow at the beginning, because war before 'the action' is often slow to the point of utter boredom. Ask anyone from WW2 to Iraq/Afghan 2003-13. They say war is 90% boredom and 10% intense terrifying action. About right. The language of the soldiers is humorous and enjoyable. Though use of certain expletives is none existent. This doesn't spoil the movie. The 'mateyness' is well depicted. It feels right. Given that these actors in 1987 are re-enacting soldiers of 2 generations before I think they do a damn good job of it. The build up to the Beersheba action is very well handled. Very plausible. I loved Anthony Andrews as Meinerzhagen the Intel officer. I like him anyhow. He has a very personable eccentricity while doing well as an intelligent actor. But the cream on the cake is without any doubt that cavalry charge. I've seen a few in my time; 'Charge of the Light Brigade' comes to mind. The difference here is that these guys charge like they mean it. Its easily one of the finest if not THE finest cavalry charge I've ever seen on film. It had me almost in tears from the emotion of it. Abs beautifully done. The charge by itself would have been worth the price of the movie. There is very little regret at war expressed in this film, and rightly so. They regarded it as a just war. The officer at the end on hearing about the 'miracle of only 30 killed' remarks 'its not a miracle for them' or something like that. I'm not sure if he would have said that in 1917...who knows? Its emphatically NOT an anti-war film as some commentators seem to want to make out. There is no suggestion underlying the movie of any 'futility of war' etc. This tendency is a product of the post war (WW2/Vietnam) anti-war gen. It wasn't around in 1917 except as a generalised 'fed-upness' which all soldiers experience during long wars (and civilians too). So that's it. In my opinion a superb war movie in every way.
Review of The Lighthorsemen
