War Horse is a great movie about friendship,
bravery, courage and of course war. Everything started when a man name Ted
Narracott went to an auction and bought a horse. The horse was bought for 30
guineas. He was supposed to buy a horse that has bigger legs, so the horse
could plough the field near his house. But unfortunately the horse he bought
was still a young horse and it was also the different kind of horse.
Ted Narracott’s son, Albert trained the horse
and named him Joey. Everyday their friendship and bond grew stronger and
stronger. One of the examples is the way Albert calls Joey; he did this whistle
kind of thing to call Joey that sounded like an owl. Meanwhile, Ted Narracott’s
landlord name Sir Lyons, came to their house and ask them to pay back his money
because at that time during the auction, Ted bought Joey for 30 guineas which
means he actually couldn’t afford to pay rent to his landlord. After that, Sir
Lyons threatened Ted to plough the farm. Ted promised that he would pay the rent
after he plough the farm and plant turnips.
Ted was worried that he could not pay his
rent, his emotions went up and he was about to shoot Joey, but then Albert and
Rose (his wife) stopped him. Albert promised Ted that he would really train
Joey to plough. After that incident happen, Rose show Albert Ted’s medals from
the Second Boer War in the South Africa. The War caused him to have a bad leg.
Rose gives Albert his father’s regimental pennant, telling him that his father
was not proud of what he did during the war.
Albert trains Joey to plough, it was hard at
first but Joey listened to what Albert said. As he train and prepares the field
to plant with turnips, a rainstorm destroys the turnip crop. In order to pay
the rent, Ted sells Joey to a young cavalry officer named Captain James
Nicholls without telling Albert at first, but Albert found it out later. Albert
begs the officer to not take the horse but Nicholls can only promise that he
will took care of Joey like his own horse and hopefully he will return in back
to Albert after the war. Before Joey leaves, Albert tied his father’s
regimental pennant to Joey’s curb.
Joey is trained for the military and he
became friends with another horse called Topthorn. Both horses are sent to
France to fight in the war. The Germans kill the officers who ride the horse,
because the Germans had machineguns even though the attack to the Germans were
all of the sudden. The Germans also captured the horses.
On the german army, there was a 14-year-old
boy name Michael, he convinced one of the officer there that the two horses
(Topthorn and Joey) are fit to pull an ambulance wagon and he and he brother
Gunther drive the horses. Gunther tied the pennant to Michael’s bag that he
found on Joey’s curb as a sign of good luck because he was assigned to the
German front, but turns out he did that so he could recognize which was
Michael. He then captures Michael, each of them riding Joey and Topthorn. They
wanted to go back home but they stop for the night and hide in a farm’s windmill.
Soon the German soldiers discover them and they are executed.
The next morning, a French girl named Emilie
that lived with her grandfather, finds the two horses inside the windmill and
she took care of them. German soldiers arrived and took all the food and
supplies from the property, but the horses were not taken because Emilie kept
the horse in her bedroom. The next day, Emilie tried to ride Joey, even though
she was not allowed to do that because it is dangerous considering that her
bones are not strong enough and she could die if she fell from the horse. She
rides the horse up to the hill near the windmill. Grandfather waited and waited
and Emilie did not return, Topthorn races toward the hill with the Grandfather
following him from behind. He saw that she has run to the German soldiers who
took their supplies. The German soldiers took both horses even though Emilie
begged to not take them. The war sure has taken everything from everyone.
Joey and Topthorn were forced to pull a
German heavy artillery, which is a very tiring task to do. Heiglemann who loves
horses, helps them survive. Soon Albert was enlisted with Andrew and they’re
fighting in the Somme Battle with Lyons’s son David as the leader. After
fighting and finally going to the German’s place, a gas bomb that contains
poisonous gas exploded.
Joey and Topthorn did survive at first, but
Topthorn’s condition was really bad. His leg was injured badly and he was also
exhausted so he died. The German soldiers left Joey and there was a tank and
that was following Joey, when Joey had no where else to go, he galloped up the
tank and ran through the Somme incident and he get tangled by the wires near
the German soldiers spot. Both sides (British and German soldiers) saw him and
they couldn’t believe that a horse survived in the battle. Everyone was so
afraid to go out from their camp/area, so each side had one person going. From
the British side, a guy named Colin walks over to the horse and tried to help
him. Another guy named Peter but from the German side also walks over to the
horse and helps the horse by using wire cutters. With teamwork, both of them
free Joey and they did heads and tails (coin flip) to know who would take the
horse.
The poisonous gas bomb killed Andrew, but
Albert survived although he is blind but only temporarily though. While the
doctor or the medical people bandaged him, he heard news about the “miraculous
horse” that was rescued from the no-man’s land. One of the officers named Fry
tried to shoot Joey because he was no use since Joey had quite a lot of
injuries, but the owl sound whistle thing came. Albert and Joey meet each
other. Albert explains to Fry that he raised Joey and he gives the exact same
description of the horse.
It turned out that the horses are going to
auction. His fellow soldiers helped him so he could purchase Joey, but he lost
because someone bid 100 pounds. That someone said that if another bids higher
he will sell his coat, his farm and everything he had, that caused no other
people to bid. Turns out that someone is an old man, to be exact Emilie’s
grandfather. Albert pleads so he could have Joey back, but the old man still
did not agree. He said that his grand daughter has died and he walked three
days to get the horse back because the horse reminded him of his grand
daughter, Emilie. But in the end, the Grandfather did give back Joey and Albert’s
father pennant. Albert was so happy. He went home riding the horse and hugs his
mother and father.
