War Horse

[babymare]

"It's a film" said my hubby. "But it happened " said I. It happened and was more horrific for man and beast. I cried.

 

[Trouper]

I'm with Cobgoblin - have managed to avoid it at all costs as the older I get the less able I am to cope with all this. Humans are able to make a decision about going to war - helpless animals are not. However, I am wearing my purple poppy with pride at the moment.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I cry at the Lloyds bank adverts

that and the theme to Black Beauty.

I have read the book and watched the film-cried most of the way through both. Doesnt matter how bad a movie is (and fwiw I dont think this film is awful) if it has horses in it, I will cry.

 

[Branna]

Omg the red pony 😭 I can't remember much about it except for feeling sick with the sadness 😭 I was given it as a child.

The Red Pony was horrendous. I read it as a child, on the basis of reading Roald Dahl's Matilda and the character going on about how wonderful the red pony was as a book. Hated Matilda ever since.

I have read/seen War Horse in all its forms and found the play the most amazingly touching. As someone else mentioned, all the different horses they used for Joey in the film detached me a bit.

 

[honetpot]

I have never read or watched War Horse.
As a child I read Black Beauty and wished I hadn’t. In my dreams in got confused with the scene in Pinocchio where the boys are dragged in to a gaping hole and turned into donkeys. I had nightmares and it took me a long while to work out why.

 

[TPO]

Steinbeck is one of my favourite authors and I've owned a copy of the Red Pony for approximately twenty years now. This thread has set me back another twenty years; I might have to take it to my grave!

I am glad to read I'm not the only softie. I cry at just about anything and more so if it's horses. My niece had WH as her English homework and I had to stop helping her because I had read on and knew what was about to happen. I wanted to see the play just for the puppets; I'm glad that I did but jeez it was harrowing. My Nana gave me a beautiful hardback edition of Black Beauty for my seventh birthday. I still have it but it's only been read twice as I found it so distressing, the same goes for the films.

One time when I was channel hopping I ended up on the last 15 mins of Charlotte's Web. I've never read that book and I hate spiders, this version had a very realistic spider (spoiler alert) I tuned in just at the point that Charlotte was dying and the pig (Wilbur) took all her spider babies home and released them into the wild. Just the thought of that spider, never mind her hundreds of spider babies, gives me the absolute horrors yet I still cried for a good half hour despite having no idea of anything that had happened other than a spider died. Ironic given how many spiders have died at my hands!

 

[milliepops]

Horse drawn hearses make me cry, dunno why, no one I know has ever had one so it's not that.

 

[Annagain]

I'm not a cryer in real life at all but I'm terrible when watching films. When my parents got their first video player, Dad went to the video shop and asked for "a nice film for the kids". He brought home Dot and the Red Kangaroo. I had to sleep in with my mum for a week after watching it as I'd wake up sobbing in the middle of the night. I was also ridiculed in primary school for crying during Santa Claus the movie - the bit when Dudley Moore was banished from the North Pole for something he didn't do. It was the injustice that upset me rather than him being sad.

I've avoided War Horse and most other animal films for this very reason.

 

[Reacher]

I watched about half of WH few years ago - I had to stop watching, couldn’t bear it.

Likewise I can’t read Black Beauty - hate the way tv sanitises ithe story and turns into a fluffy kiddies show (vaguely thinking of a series in 1970s/80s?)

I’m also getting to be unable to watch David Attenborough programmes due to the harm humans have done to the environment , like the plastic pollution, deforestation, the walruses that climbed cliffs (as there was not enough beach? or ice? to get out of the water) then falling to their deaths was horrific - but like Anna Sewell I think he is a saint for bringing it to the public ‘s consciousness.

Just reading this thread makes me well up...

 

[Sugarplum Furry]

The film is too Disney-esque for me, and I spent the whole time counting how many different Joeys there.

The book, on the other hand, had me bawling my eyes out and I still haven't got over it and will never read it again (along with John Steinbeck's "The Red Pony" )

Weirdly I didn't shed a tear when I saw the film which made me feel like a total freak as everyone else I went with were bawling. They must have thought I was a hard hearted woman, but I so agree it was too Disney, and the gratuitous neighing through the film really annoyed me. I loved the play when I saw it, the skill of the puppeteers was amazing and I was a bit gulpy in places. My Grandad was an army farrier and travelled with the horses and mules in WW1 and would tell me some of his stories when I was a teenager, broke my heart.

 

[Orangehorse]

It was the horses abandoned in Egypt after WWI that led to the Brooke Hospital being founded. An officer's wife went back to Egypt to try and buy up all the old army horses and give them a few nice days before they were PTS. They were in a bad state.

 

[mhorses]

Currently on bbc2
Why do I do this to myself every time it’s on tv? Anyone else blubbing?

 

[blitznbobs]

Never watched it - never will some things you cant unsee… i know the atrocities that happened i dont need to have nightmares to know that they should never happen again but its not something within my control

 

[Rumtytum]

Currently on bbc2
Why do I do this to myself every time it’s on tv? Anyone else blubbing?

Will never watch it ? ??

 

[Archangel]

Just made OH turn over to a western.

 

[splashgirl45]

I saw the stage play and that was very emotional so there is no way I am watching the film. I’ve never watched the horse whisperer either because I read the book and know I would be upset ..

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

I’ve watched it a few times, so sad but I love the bit with the little French girl who looks after them

 

[Pinkvboots]

I cry at the Lloyds bank adverts

They make me a bit teary especially the old one where the woman is hugging the horse and the camera zooms in on the horses eye, it just finishes me off as it reminds me of my old mare, I'm actually getting teary just thinking about it now I'm so sad ?

 

[Laurac13]

I watched a bit then cried and turned over to another channel ?

 

[Petalpoos]

I have it on record, but may not watch it as too sad.

 

[Peglo]

Read the book first. There’s tear splotches on several pages. Went to the cinema to watch the film and OH asked if I was ok. I’m not usually a crier but that story. ?
interestingly I cried at different parts in the book v film.

 

[Sealine]

I wouldn’t watch Lassie films as a child because they made me cry. Films about dogs or horses are guaranteed to make me cry. Whatever you do don’t watch Hachi: A dog’s tale. ?

 

[Moobli]

I wouldn’t watch Lassie films as a child because they made me cry. Films about dogs or horses are guaranteed to make me cry. Whatever you do don’t watch Hachi: A dog’s tale. ?

I broke my heart over that film ?

 

[ozpoz]

There’s a great book about Dorothy Brooke and her huge efforts to help horses left behind by the war. She had significant opposition from the government initially but raised awareness of the British public who helped to found the Brooke Hospital. Just an amazing read.

Another book that I cry over is Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley when Justabob goes through his final auction. Heartbreaking ?

 

[fetlock]

I saw the stage play and that was very emotional so there is no way I am watching the film. I’ve never watched the horse whisperer either because I read the book and know I would be upset ..

On the other side of the side road to the building where I used to work was a theatre, specifically the side of it where they unloaded and then built the stage sets, which was really interesting to watch (as they left the shutters up as they were building).

The week after I was due to leave that office for another, War Horse was due to be shown there. I was so disappointed to be leaving, to miss the set unloading/building for that particular play as I wanted to see whether Joey the horse puppet was unloaded from the wagon in its entirety or in parts, to be put fully together once unloaded. Unfortunately I never found out.