From outer space to parks with dinosaurs, to the far future and to the distant past, Steven Spielberg has taken us everywhere within his films. Picking a film for this blog was no easy feat, in fact, I could have done a blog on each and every one of his films! Each one is just as iconic as the next, and so I had to really think which of his films visually stood out to me the most, and I can to the subject of today’s shot-by-shot blog - War of the Worlds.
War of the Worlds has been adapted into a number of different formats, from television series, radio serials, and theatres. Everyone knows the name, War of the Worlds, and that the story is about aliens invading Earth, but cinematically-speaking when you think of War of the Worlds I bet you think of this film. From the floating bodies in the river to the ending with the death of Tripod’s, the atmosphere is so dark and foreboding throughout the film that it was really hard picking three shots to talk about.
Spielberg chose to ground the science-fiction in the story, and he does that by doing what he does best - he puts the focus on the human experience. Tom Cruise plays Ray and the film sees Ray and his family, the Ferrier’s, witness the harrowing events of an alien invasion in real-time. This particular scene in the film is peak “Spielbergian” and this shot sums up the term “Spielbergian” perfectly, by balancing the human perspective with science-fiction imagery. With cloudy colours obscuring the towering menace, seeing only the shape of it instead of the details. The sounds that the machine makes are bone-chilling and make us feel the same fear as the humans do in this shot. The threat is very much real and Spielberg goes all out in making it feel as threatening as it looks.
Children are much more convincing at portraying fear than adults, which is why Spielberg always puts the focus on them in scenes such as this. Tom Cruise’s character Ray is silent but is aware that the risk of death is always there and acts cautiously. Whereas Dakota Fanning’s character Rachel is curious but is consumed by fear and dread whenever the threat makes itself known. Spielberg is known for creating tense scenes where the children and the “villain” of the film are locked in a room together. In this film you feel like you’re there with them, hearing them hold their breath and waiting motionless for the aliens to leave.
Like I said before, Spielberg gives this film a grounded feeling by focusing on the human experience and not the alien experience. The enemy is always lurking in the background and is never given focus except for when Spielberg wants the audience to feel fear. Spielberg utilises the appearance of the aliens to make the human characters make hasty decisions and challenge their instinct to survive. This scene with the tripods in the horizon escalates the tension and the oncoming peril to the point that the Ferrier family try to escape whilst attempting to remain together.
War of the Worlds isn’t just a science-fiction film, it’s also a road movie and a family film. Spielberg constantly tries to remind us of this by making sure that we care about the characters. The alien invasion is nothing but a visceral device for our character’s journey, and it helps to prove what it means to be human. Survival is important and Spielberg reassures us that we can overcome any threat we face, whether it’s man-made or extraterrestrial. This is peak Spielberg and he keeps on reminding us this with every film he makes.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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