WAR HORSE

UK, 2011, 146 minutes, Colour.
Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Niels Arestrup, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Celine Buckens, Toby Kebbell, David Kross, Eddie Marsan, Nicolas Bro, Liam Cunningham, Geoff Bell, Gerard Mc Sorley, Julian Wadham, David Dencik.
Directed by Steven Spielberg.

War Horse has been a very successful theatre drama (with actors using masks for the horses). It has been adapted by Lee (Billy Elliot) and Richard Curtis (Four Weddings, Love Actually) and directed with his usual fine craft by Steven Spielberg.

Most audiences will find this a very moving film and not just those who like stories which feature horses.

The first forty five minutes show ordinary farmers, landowners and tenants, on impoverished properties in Devon. Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) and his wife (Rose) are in debt to the wealthy Mr Lyons (David Thewlis). They have a teenage son, Albert (Jeremy Irvine). Spielberg obviously loves the countryside and immerses us in it. And we share the anxieties of the farmers, especially when a horse is auctioned which Ted sees as having great potential – when all he really needs is a draft horse for ploughing the hard fields. Albert volunteers to look after and train the horse, naming it Joe. They develop a great bond which is tested when Albert volunteers to guide Joe in ploughing. The neighbours and Lyons gather to watch and we are all moved by the spirit of the horse in succeeding in ploughing the whole field.

The World War I begins and Ted Narracott decides to sell the horse to the army. The friendly Captain Nichols reassures Albert that he will look after the horse. He does, even sketching Joe to send to Albert. The young English officers, like their French counterparts seen in so many films critical of them, are caught up in spirit and pride so that when they charge a German camp at dawn, presuming they have the upper hand, they are led into a forest where they are mown down. Joe and the other horses are taken – and almost destroyed when they are judged as too fine and too useless for the work of transporting weapons and goods.

Joe has several adventures during the war, episodes set in France and Belgium, which also illustrate how the war affected soldiers and ordinary people. A young horse trainer decides to desert to protect his younger enlisted brother. They ride away and hide in a windmill, but to no avail at all.

A grandfather who makes jams (Niels Arestrup) cares for his granddaughter who some across Joe and takes him in. However, the German troops come to the farm demanding food and, tragically, the horse is taken.

As the war goes on, Joe is involved with transport. Spielberg creates a powerful sequence where the exhausted horses drag large cannons up a hill. He then tops that with an extraordinary sequence where Joe breaks free and gallops wildly through the lines, through the barbed wire, tangling it around his body and comes to a standstill in no man’s land. There is a fine sequence where a British soldier comes out of the trenches and enlists a German soldier and his wire-cutters to free Joe. This is one of those scenes where the futility of the hostilities is dramatised as each side works with the other and join in a common cause which is peaceful.

The war ends. Will Joe find Albert again?

Beautiful to look at, with a moving John Williams score, an emotional film that appeals to the best feelings in us. It does not aim at the critique of World War I as in films like Paths of Glory. But, it offers some of the best of British heritage and a reminder that World War I is passing into history as modern warfare is so technological compared with the human endeavour and suffering in the trenches. A story where we focus on the horse’s heroics symbolises the harshness of the human experience as well.

1. A moving film? Humane? Appreciation of animals? Themes of war, themes of peace?

2. The career of Steven Spielberg, his craft, his humanity, his sentiment?

3. The title, audience expectations, a horse story? The human story, the farm, war? The blend?

4. Spielberg’s craft: a sense of realism, and the blending in of the special effects? Devon and the recreation of the British landscapes, farms? The war in Europe, the different battlefields? The cavalry charge? France and the countryside? The camps of the German military? Pulling the cannon up the hill? The trenches? The tour de force of Joe’s run? The No Man’s Land and the trenches? The detail of the trenches?

5. John Williams and his score, a War Horse Suite? Backing the action?

6. Audience response to horse stories, the boy and his horse, the bonds between the two, losing the horse, the other owners, the care for the horse, cruelty to the horse? The horse’s final gallop? Near death? Surviving? Heroism?

7. Life in Devon at the outbreak of World War One, the beginning of the 20th century? The farms, the landowners, aristocracy, their relationship with their tenants, the hardships for the tenants, the poor homes, the birth of the horse, the auctions, the rivalry, the thirty guineas? The horse, Ted Narracott and his recognition of the horse’s quality? Buying it? His stubbornness? Bringing it home, Rose’s reaction? Albert and his wanting to bring the horse up, naming him Joe? The scenes of training, the bonds? The whistle?

8. The landowners, Lyons, his family? The demands on his tenants, the rivalry with Ted at the auction, Ted and his being quiet and drinking? The wife and son, trying to get the money to pay Lyons? The background of the Boer War, Ted and his medals, not looking at them, Rose’s explanation to Albert?

9. The barren field, Albert putting the bridle on Joe? The hard ground, the crowd watching, the rain? His friends supporting him? The dangers, perseverance, the sharp plough, cutting the rock? Tilling the ground? The response of the crowds? Of Lyons? The irony of the flood destroying the crop?

10. The announcement of war, the bell ceasing to ring? Ted and his decision to sell the horse, not telling Albert? The meeting with the army representatives, Captain Nicholls? Captain Nicholls and the bargain, his concern for Albert? Sergeant Perkins and his taking the horse away? Albert going to the market, his upset, with his father, the reassurance by Nicholls? Nicholls taking the horse away? Albert going home, his parents? Life at the outbreak of the war, his work on the farm? Lyons’s son and his driving the girl in the car over the fields?

11. The British camp, the change of tone in the film, the authorities? Major Stewart and his friendship with Nicholls? The rivalry? Testing the horses, the charge? Preparing for Europe? Nicholls winning? Nicholls and his drawings of the horse, his package and its being delivered to Albert?

12. Stewart and the discussion about strategies, the plan for attack, the German camp, the cavalry charge, the camp itself, the Germans running in fear, the young British officers and their self-confidence, the charge and the attack? The change with the Germans in the woods, training the guns on them, deaths? The capture of the horses?

13. Joe and the other horses in German hands? The Germans taking them? Wanting to kill the cavalry horses, preferring draught horses? Proving their worth? The German perspectives? Gunther, his brother, taking care of the horse, taking the horse and escaping?

14. Gunther, the discussions with his brother, their family, loyalties? His wanting to protect his brother, riding past and snatching him, putting him on the horse? Their hiding in the windmill, their plans? Their being caught, the German officers, their being executed by firing squad?

15. Joe in the fields sin France, the grandfather and the little girl? Their life together, the distant war, hearing the guns? The bond with the horse? The little girl’s happiness? The soldiers coming to the house, wanting food, taking the jams, the officer eating the jam, the little girl hiding the horse? Her riding it over the hill against her grandfather’s wishes, her being caught? Information later about her death?

16. The sergeant taking care of the horses, hauling the ammunition, the years passing, the scene of the artillery being hauled up the hill, Major Stewart’s horse collapsing, Joe surviving? The German struggles? The harshness of the commander? Joe being saved?

17. Albert and his friend, joining up, in the trenches? The film’s detail of the experience of war? The shelling, the getting ready to go over the top, the orders to shoot any of the soldiers returning, the gas? The visuals of the trenches, No Man’s Land? Immersing the audience in the trench warfare?

18. The Germans, the retreat, Joe running through the No Man’s Land, being trapped by the wire yet going on?

19. The trench group, seeing the horse, going out, the soldier wanting to cut the horse free, the Germans and the wire cutters, the German coming out, freeing the horse – and tossing for it?

20. Joe, his injuries, the decision to destroy him, Sergeant Fry and his gun? The vet and his comments? Albert being blinded by the gas? His concern about the horses? Whistling, Joe’s response, their being reunited?

21. The auction, the officers allowed to keep their horses, the other soldiers having to give them to auction, the soldiers collecting the money, the vet giving a donation? The bidding, the grandfather outbidding Albert? Albert ready to let the horse go, reluctance? The grandfather, seeing Albert, their discussion, giving Albert his father’s ribbons? Giving back the horse?

22. The honours, the war achievement, the return home? Albert going with his father and mother, returning the medals? War heroics?

23. Steven Spielberg on war, presenting it graphically, for and against?

24. The film highlighting British World War One heritage, heroism? The futility of that war and the cruelty of the cavalry charges and the trench warfare?