War Horse - Discussion Guide

Summary

When his drunken father (Peter Mullan) brings home a thoroughbred horse, Devonshire farm boy Albert (Jeremy Irvine) falls in love at first sight. Joey, as he names the spirited animal, is completely unsuitable for farm work – but this doesn’t stop Albert from bonding with him, even training him to plough in an act of defiance against the family’s grabbing landlord (David Thewlis).

But bigger forces are about to tear boy and horse apart. The First World War breaks out, and Joey is sold to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), a cavalry officer. Their ride into battle is only the beginning of Joey’s journey, and as the war rages on, he passes through many different hands on all sides of the conflict. Surrounded by chaos and death, it seems unlikely that he will survive – but somewhere in the trenches is his beloved Albert, who has come looking for him.

Background

War Horse is directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the novel of the same name by former children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo. Morpurgo wrote the 1982 children’s book after meeting WWI veterans, and hearing about the close bond they had with their horses during wartime. He decided that he could tell a story about the universal suffering of the First World War by writing from the horse’s perspective. A stage adaptation, featuring life-sized bamboo puppet horses, premiered at the Royal National-Olivier Theatre in London in 2007, and won many awards.

Morpurgo had previously tried, unsuccessfully, to write a screenplay based on the book. However, the stage play’s approach – which did not require Joey’s narration – translated better onto the screen. Steven Spielberg was brought onto the project after having been hugely impressed by the stage production, and by a screenplay by Richard Curtis (Blackadder) and playwright Lee Hall. War Horse has received a largely positive critical response, with particular praise for its battle sequences and old-fashioned approach to evoking emotion.

Questions for Discussion

1. Had you read the book or seen the stage play before seeing the film? If so, how do you think that this adaptation compares? What is the best way to experience the War Horse story?

2. Steven Spielberg is known for telling unashamedly emotional stories. What techniques does he use in this film to engage the audience’s feelings? What helps to separate something that is ‘sentimental’ from something that is genuinely moving?

3. What makes Joey so important to Albert at the beginning of the film? What qualities do animals have that can lead us to become attached to them? What is the impact of seeing the war portrayed through the experiences of an animal, as opposed to a human?

4. ‘He refuses to be proud of killing. Think how brave that is.’ – Rose Narracott (Emily Watson)
   How has Albert’s father been shaped by his past experiences of war? What stance, if any, does the film seem to take on the morality of war?

5. Why did the storytellers choose to show us Joey being cared for by people of various nationalities (English soldiers, German soldiers, occupied French)? What impact does it have when we begin to identify with people on all sides of a conflict?

6. How realistic a portrayal do you think the film gives of the war and of the people fighting in it? How important is historical authenticity when recreating tragic events?

7. ‘Me and the men, Sir, we have high hopes for him.’ – Colin (Toby Kebell)
   What does Joey come to represent to the different people who encounter him? Why is his survival so significant to Colin, the soldier who frees him from the barbed wire? Why does Albert call him ‘a miracle horse’?

8. The chaos and waste of the First World War may appear irredeemably bleak. Is there anything that can offer real hope in these kinds of circumstances? How is our culture impacted by being so removed from suffering on this scale?

9. ‘What a strange beast you’ve become.’ – Colin
   Where do war and conflict ultimately come from? Are they products of human nature, or do they go against human nature? What distinguishes ‘human nature’ from ‘animal nature’?

10. Why is it so important and so difficult, in any kind of conflict, to see our enemy as a fellow human being? What do you make of Jesus’s command to, ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matthew 5:44, NIV)?

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