Ted Narracott is seen in town bidding on a thoroughbred horse. He is supposed to be going to buy a plow horse. Ted bids a small amount of guineas for the hosrse but another gentleman is bidding Ted Narracott up and he ends up spending thirty guinea to purchase a horse. Ted and Roses son, Albert, tells his parents that he will train the horse. Albert names the horse Joey. Albert spends everyday trying to train Joey and he gets to the point where he finds ways that make Joey listen to him. Albert puts the harness on his neck and gets him out there to plow the field.
Joey falls down and everyone thinks that he cannot do it, but soon it starts to rain and it softens up the earth. Albert sees this and then tells Joey to push forward some more, and the field gets plowed, much to the dismay of Lyons, who wants to the Ted Narracott and his family fail. Soon after, Ted Narracott sells Joey to the English cavalry for 30 guinea and uses that money to pay his rent to Lyons. Albert tries to enlist into the military but is not old enough. He ends up sneaking in the ranks and has on a English uniform and carrying a weapon before a count of the troops.
Major Stewart is later seen riding Joey on an attack of the German soldiers, and during the attack the Germans surround Major Stewart and other English troops and end up stealing Joey along with other horses. A few English soldiers are dressed in German military uniforms and go steal Joey and another horse from a German camp. Joey, along with the other horse are next seen at a farm where an elderly grandfather and his granddaughter Emilie are taking care of the horses. Emilie is trying to train Joey how to jump and he doesn’t seem to take the lessons very well.
German troops show up and tell the grandfather that they are there to get produce and drinks for German troops on the front lines. The Germans ask where the farms livestock is and the grandfather lies and tells them that they have no animals. Emilie rides over a hill and her grandfather is yelling for her and when she doesn’t answer he runs up the hill with the other horse and sees the German soldiers trying to take Joey and the other horse. The grandfather pleads with the German troops that Emilie is just a little girl and that there a plenty more horses that the one that he has.
The Germans end up taking Joey and the other horse. German troops are trying to have the horses carry cannons up a hill and the lead horse falls over from exhaustion. A German soldier shoots that horse and yells for the black horse that is accompanying Joey throughout much of the movie. The black horse is hurt and cannot do it so Joey runs to the front of the formation and makes himself the lead horse. Joey and the other horses get the cannons to the top of the hill and then the Germans begin raining fire down upon the English troops. Albert is seen with his unit preparing to attack the Germans in a trench.
Albert becomes temporarily blinded by gas and Joey takes off running through the trenches and then gets tangled up in barb wire in No Mans Land. An English troop and a German troop come into No Mans Land and attempt to cut Joey free from the barbwire. They end up having a coin toss to see which one gets to keep Joey. The English troop wins. He brings Joey to a makeshift infirmary and asks a doctor to look him over. The doctor says he is badly injured and to put him out of his misery. Albert hears the story about the miraculous horse and calls Joey with his call that he trained him with.
He tells the English troops that Joey is his horse that he had trained. He describes Joeys physical appearance and then they tell him they will take care of Joey like the soldier he is. Armistice is called and the war is over. Joey is set to be auctioned off, and Albert is given thirty pounds from the troops to buy Joey back. An elderly man bids against Albert and the elderly man ends up being Emilies grandfather. The grandfather ends up wiining the bid and Albert is saying goodbye and the grandfather asks Albert what was attached to Joey; it was his father’s cavalry pennant.
The grandfather gives the pennant back and also gives Albert his horse Joey back. Setting/ Costumes The movie is a very dramatic war movie. I would say it is a melodrama, and I say that because there are many moments throughout the film where a lot of people would just give up and take what was handed to them. Joey was taken from Albert multiple times throughout the movie but he stayed strong and always showed his love for his horse Joey. He finds strength to carry on and end up getting his horse returned to him at the end.
The setting of the movie is early World War 1 at the beginning and goes throughout the war. The scene backdrop and the costumes that the actors where wearing made the movie realistic in the time frame that was supposed to be. It is hard to seen rank insignia on any of the troops which was pretty accurate to that timeframe with military uniforms. Character Development The main character is what the movie is mostly devoted to for creating character development. Albert is a young boy who receives a horse from his father after his father purchases Joey. Albert trains Joey and gains this close connection with Joey.
Albert trains Joey and you can see the connection forming through the screen. After Joey is sold to the English troops Albert makes it a mission to be reunited with Joey throughout the movie. Albert pretty much gives up everything so he can find Joey and be united with him again. The movie as a whole was very well written with all the necessary details to make the characters seem real and not forced. Editing Techniques The first editing technique I will talk about is the form cut. There was a form cut when Joey and Albert where in the field when they were plowing it.
The scene zooms in and then there is a blanket that had a smooth transition to the next scene. There were also a lot of jump cuts in War Horse. The film goes through around 5 years or so during the first World War. There would be event happening, then the movie would jump forward English Major first mounted Joey for the attack on the German troops. It showed the entire cavalry mounted up and on the offensive ready to attack the German camp. The movie showed a lot of long shots during the war sequences so you could get a glimpse of how big the military units where.
In this paper, I have given you the basic plotline and overview of the film War Horse. There have also been some film editing techniques touched on. I have given what type of movie I thought it was and how I thought the settings and the costumes help portray the timeframe in which the movie is supposed to take place.
References
Spielberg, Steven (Director). (2011). War Horse [Film]. United States: DreamWorks Sporre, D. J. (2011). Perceiving the Arts: An introduction to the humanities (10th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
