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War Horse

FILM DISCUSSION GUIDE

War Horse

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This big-screen adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel begins in rural Devon, where 16-year-old farmer's son Albert has formed a close bond with Joey, a willful horse he has successfully trained. When war breaks out, Albert is devastated to be separated from Joey, who is needed at the front. Passed between many different masters and sent into the battlefield where he is often up against machine artillery, we see the scale of the devastation from the point of view of the horses that were engaged in warfare.

War Horse

War Horse

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When did World War I start? Which were the main countries involved?�

Talk about it before the film

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After leaving Albert’s family farm, where is Joey sent off to? Can you remember Joey’s different owners during its four-year journey?
Who do you think is the main protagonist of War Horse: Albert or Joey? Explain why.
What is the significance of telling this story through an animal’s viewpoint? What do you learn about the war and its consequences?
Re-watch the closing scene and analyse the use of colours. How does the aesthetic of the scene support the narrative? What were the main colours in the film’s first half compared to its second half?

Discussion points

War Horse

Teacher Notes:

After growing up in Albert’s farm in the English countryside, Joey is sold to an English officer named Jim, until the latter dies during an assault against enemy troops on French soil. Taken into the German cavalry, Joey is looked after by two German brothers, who then try to flee the battalion on horseback. When the boys are found and shot for treason, Joey is cared for by French seven year-old girl Emilie, who lives with her grandfather. But their house is looted by German soldiers, who take away all the food and cattle of the farm. There’s a leap forward to 1918 at The Somme (France), where Joey is up against a tank, but soon manages to gallop away into No Man’s Land, where it is caught in wires and wounded. English and German soldiers free the horse from the wires, after which the English soldier takes him back to the trenches, where it is reunited with its first owner Albert. After the war, Joey is auctioned and bought by Emilie’s grandfather to honor his granddaughter’s death. Upon understanding that Albert was the one who raised the horse, the man allows him to keep the animal, and Albert and Joey go back to the family farm.

Despite the film’s title, at the beginning Albert seems to be the film’s main character. The first scenes are set in his family farm, and the camera often translates what Albert sees or feels. But when the war breaks out and Joey is sold to the army, Albert disappears from the screen and Joey’s journey takes over the narrative. One can still argue that Albert is never truly absent, as he is remembered through the red ribbon he had knotted to the horse’s saddle, and Joey’s new owners sometimes refer to him (“whoever taught you this saved your life”). At the end of the film, Albert re-appears as he has enlisted in the army. At this point, Joey’s and Albert’s stories are treated equally – as wounded heroes: Joey is hurt after being caught in wires but he is the “only thing that came back alive from No Man’s Land” and Albert survives a deadly assault on the battlefield and is wounded during a gas attack in the trenches. It seems that they are both the protagonists of the film.

By showing the experience of warfare through the animal’s viewpoint, Spielberg presents the horrors of the war without showing the battlefields and human fatalities. The film is indeed a universal tale that can appeal to a broad range of viewers while still dealing with questions of separation, death and destruction. �In many ways, Joey’s condition stands for the condition of humans battling on each front: the horse is separated from its mother and from Albert, just like men are separated from their families. Both men and animals become weapons, which will either be “used or destroyed” (as per the words of a German officer). �It is also a narrative technique which allows the film to present several individual stories without taking a stand on either side of the war.��Through Joey’s odyssey, we learn about the consequences of the war on the families that have stayed behind waiting for the return of their sons, as well as on the cities and houses destroyed or looted by army troops, and on the animals themselves. It conveys the message that, regardless of which side you are fighting on, no one is protected from the consequences of the war. �Finally, choosing an animal as the central character brings some humanity and hope to the story: men seem to be more concerned about the physical health of the animal than of the soldiers’, and when humans cannot escape their death, Joey can (when Jim is killed, Joey runs away).

[Please watch the clip on the next slide which goes with question four.]

Albert and Joey come back at sunset, with a warm yellow and orange sky. Closing scenes are often set at sunset, as a way to signal the end of the day (and by extension of the story) as well as the resolution of conflicts that were presented throughout the film. However, as Albert gets closer to his house, darker colours split the sky into two. The characters also appear as dark figures against the orange sky. Despite the happy ending of the film, the use of dark colours is a way to acknowledge the horrors that have been told in the past two hours: even if Albert and Joey are home, many people and animals have died during the war.��There is an evolution from Devon’s very bright and green landscapes before the war to brown/dark and muddy scenes in the film’s second half. The contrast in colours translates the opposition between the happy and bright pre-wartime life with the loss and sorrow which is brought upon by the war.

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War Horse

Teacher Notes:

This clip is to be used with question four on the previous slide.

Albert and Joey come back at sunset, with a warm yellow and orange sky. Closing scenes are often set at sunset, as a way to signal the end of the day (and by extension of the film) as well as the resolution of conflicts that were presented throughout the film. However, as Albert gets closer to his house, darker colours split the sky into two. The characters also appear as dark figures against the orange sky. Despite the happy ending of the film, the use of dark colours is a way to acknowledge the horrors that have been told in the past 2 hours: even if Albert and Joey are home, many people and animals have died during the war.��There is an evolution from Devon’s very bright and green landscapes before the war to brown/dark and muddy scenes in the film’s second half. The contrast in colours translates the opposition between the happy and bright life pre-wartime and the lost and sorrow brought by the war.

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Spielberg’s War Horse is adapted from a novel by Michael Morpurgo. Based on the film’s portrayal of the horse, write a detailed description of Joey, outlining both its physical characteristics and capabilities as if you were introducing him as a character in a novel of your own.

Extension activities

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Bring your ideas together in a review and share it on our Into Film clubs’ website. You could include a summary of the story, mention other films that it’s similar to, describe what you particularly liked or disliked and give it your star rating.

Write about it

War Horse

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War Horse