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Review of The War (Thomas Newman)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you love the soulful vocal contributions to Thomas Newman's symphonic lyricism in Fried Green Tomatoes and desire a somber, more beautiful variation of that sound in the highlights of this score.

Avoid it... if Newman's experimental side often alienates you, because his use of striking specialty elements in the bass region for the dirty setting of America's Deep South here will be challenging to digest.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The War: (Thomas Newman) There was much to praise about the topic of interpersonal conflict in Jon Avnet's 1994 movie, The War, especially in its portrayal of bullying between children. Its story of inner-demons and neighborly battles is set in 1970's Mississippi, where two families and a group of children fight over the construction and custody of a tree house. Leading one of the families is Kevin Costner as a defeated Vietnam War veteran, whose position on the bullying of his children by the neighboring family is awkwardly peaceful, avoiding confrontation whenever possible due his troubling experiences in the war. His struggles to find employment and redeem himself for inactions in conflict are countered by the optimism of his children, who ultimately prevail in morally defeating their junk yard-worthy opponents. The movie's bittersweet ending doesn't make The War an easy film to watch (and in part led to the production's financial loss), but the performance of a young Elijah Wood as the lead of the children was universally applauded. One of the film's more interesting elements is its original score by Thomas Newman, which was forced to contend with several notable placements of 1970's songs in the picture. The project represented the second of Newman's four collaborative efforts with Avnet in the 1990's, the partnership ending thereafter. They had completed Fried Green Tomatoes a few years earlier, a likeable movie that yielded a very spirited score from Newman that is best remembered for its remarkable saturation with the tone of America's Deep South. The setting in The War is the same but the personality of the movie is a touch darker, forcing the composer to take some of the familiar elements from his prior success and adapt them into a more solemn but equally uplifting variation. Newman had proven himself very capable of writing convincing music for the Deep South in his early 1990's scores, the style lending itself well to the composer's continuing development of unusual instrumental colors despite rising to fame mostly because of his symphonic efforts. A variety of interesting tones are applied to The War, including much harsher representations of the region than heard in Fried Green Tomatoes, but the re-emergence of soulful female vocals together with the orchestra is what steals the show once again. The resulting work has highlights that will make it a higher priority for listeners than Up Close & Personal and Red Corner later in the collaboration.

Newman does little to mask the difference between good and evil in The War, very clearly handling the protagonists with the tonal, accessible expressions of symphonic lyricism and the junk yard villains (and the dirtiness of the location in general) with a variety of specialty instruments that is led by the growling bass capabilities of the didgeridoo and banjo. There are faint soul and gospel leanings in some of the passages that bridge these two parts of the score, especially with the reprise of the vocal usage from Fried Green Tomatoes, but Newman isn't afraid to make the Deep South sound like a hostile foreign planet with his more ominous expressions on the specialty items, summed up well by "Junkyard Billy." Even when adopting a bluegrass spirit, as in "Trolley," the trademark Newman piano and struck percussion is overwhelmed by the more sinister plucked contributors. Also influencing the score is the presence of exotic woodwinds, starting in "Hornets" and likely an acknowledgement of the Vietnam connections to American life (which dismayed critics as well). In "2nd Vietnam," this usage is extended significantly and given slight adagio treatment from strings for emphasized agony. Some of the alienating instrumental tones heard here would be understandably expanded upon for Red Corner a few years later. Not all is sour in the dressing of the location, however, Newman resorting to his usual solitary oboe solos for restrained beauty in "Juliette," "Life Be a Bowlful," and the closing moments of "Hospital." These three cues contain one of the score's secondary motifs, but all such ideas in The War are overshadowed by Newman's main theme, which dominates the rest of the material with its optimistic beauty. Heard first in "The War (Main Title)," this identity is rarely touched upon in the score (a reprise of the strings from that initial cue is notable in the latter half of "2nd Vietnam") but will absolutely break your heart in "Angel Pen," which closes out the work with arguably the most lovely symphonic and solo female vocal combination of the composer's career. This cue compensates for all the challenges and ills of the rest of the score with a redemptive spirit that belongs in any collection of the composer's early 1990's lyricism. Aside from this stunning track, the album release is rather forgettable, the songs highly reminiscent of Forrest Gump (which was still hugely popular at the time The War debuted) but at least congregated at the start of the product. The four cues containing the restrained, soulful vocals, including the phenomenal "Angel Pen," provide ten minutes of engaging material, but the score's rougher side will take much longer to embrace, assuming you can ever appreciate Newman's rougher edges.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 63:01

• 1. Peace Train - performed by Cat Stevens (4:09) • 2. Think - performed by Aretha Franklin (2:17) • 3. Summertime from "Porgy and Bess" - performed by Janis Joplin (3:59) • 4. Lovin' Spoonful - performed by Lovin' Spoonful (2:22) • 5. Sunny - performed by Bobby Hebb (2:42) • 6. Spirit in the Sky - performed by Norman Greenbaum (4:01) • 7. Follow - performed by Richie Havens (6:22) • 8. Up on Cripple Creek - performed by The Band (4:31) • 9. Someday We'll Be Together - performed by Diana Ross & The Supremes (3:32) • 10. Juliette (3:11) • 11. Trolley (2:04) • 12. The War (Main Title) (1:14) • 13. Hornets (0:52) • 14. Resuscitation (1:34) • 15. Gone Again (2:41) • 16. Life Be a Bowlful (1:28) • 17. 2nd Vietnam (6:13) • 18. Junkyard Billy (1:09) • 19. Dare (2:31) • 20. Hospital (2:34) • 21. Angel Pen (3:35)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from The War are Copyright © 1994, MCA Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 2/10/12 (and not updated significantly since).