Having just watched War Horse

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Janah

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I watched the film more out of curosity than anything else having heard negative comment about it.

Well, I cried through 90% of it!

The pointless ness of war, the young lives lost (some of them only kids as depicted in the film) and the callousness to animals, not just horses, but the many that must have been terrified out of their lives.

The worst bit was seeing Joey running through the wire fences.

Well worth a watch and maybe we can learn from it.
 
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Learning from mistakes of generations past is not something humans are very good at especially when it comes to possessions.
 
I've just watched it too, not my thing at all I'm afraid, over-romanticised, soppy and ridiculously far-fetched, typical Spielberg! Glad you enjoyed it though. :)
 
Well I watched it as well because I wanted too. Hubby didn't want to watch as he's actually a big softie. One would never know that meeting him. Anyway after War Horse at half 11pm, hubby went out to the barn to annoy the horses with carrots.

Terri
 
I enjoyed it as a kids film which is what it's meant to be, the book was written for children to explain about the horses' part in war, however it is very slushy and over-sentimental for me. Being an avid reader of WW1 books I can say the reality is far far worse unfortunately :(
 
Brummyrat said:
I enjoyed it as a kids film which is what it's meant to be, the book was written for children to explain about the horses' part in war, however it is very slushy and over-sentimental for me. Being an avid reader of WW1 books I can say the reality is far far worse unfortunately :(
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I'd watched a documentary by the BBC before I saw the film. The real story and old footage of the war horses was truly harrowing. I got irritated by the obvious emotional manipulation in the film.
 
Perfect film for me & my partner he loves the war side & I love watching the horses. Wouldnt catch him watching anything else with horses in :p
 
i wasnt struck on it as a horsey movie but i was quite moved by, like you, the complete waste of life during war, pointless, needless fighting ruining everything in its path.
 
I saw it last night too was most struck by the training methods. Next time I want to teach my youngster something I shall dispense with any form of preparation and simply stand in front of it look it in the eye and explain what I want this seems much easier:rolleyes:
 
We have just watched it, and i loved it. Just like black beauty, always brings me to tears.
Defintely a family film for a sunday night.

Loved the bit when he fell off when they tried to jump the wall. he got up unhurt and laughed, timely as my daughter is just sitting on the sofa aching after falling off in the (soft) arena
 
I read the book and was crying before I had turned the first page!! Went to see it at pictures and thankfully the film never made me cry as much - but little tears were shed.

I also watched documentary and was saddened by that, especially the horse ambulance - I wondered what loading problems they may of had .....
 
Preferred the puppet stage show to the film. Couldn't stop noticing every time they changed the main character horse in the film.... in one scene it had a curly mane, in the next it was dead straight :rolleyes:
 
Enjoyed the film, expected it be a little Disney like from time to time but thought that actually, Speilberg didnt shy away from some of the less pleasant aspects and the photography was brilliant. I scoured the net afterwards for info on the horses as the one thing that did annoy me was that joey was meant to be a TB and quite clearly changed several times to much heavier horses..my Internet search said 14 horses were used, mostly andalusian and 1 TB. I didn't object to the tricks Joey leant, after all they didnt show him being backed either! Not relevant.

I took this as another slant on the war. Very little is written about the loss of animals during WW1 and Warhorse makes you look at this differently. Thought it did also show why they are still finding graves from both world wars though..
 
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