Alpen-The Ultimate Lookbook

‘War Horse’ is an insightful historical fiction film, based on the best-selling novel by Michael Morpurgo about a horse’s journey in World War I. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg, an Academy Award winner, who also directed films such as ‘E.T’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’, ‘Jurassic Park’ etc. The cast includes a breakout performance by Jeremy Irvine (Albert Narracott), Tom Hiddleston (Captain Nicholls), who is best known for his character Loki, in Thor and Benedict Cumberbatch (Major Jamie Stewart), who is also best known as Sherlock Holmes from the TV Series, “Sherlock”. The ‘War Horse’ film is set in a beautiful breezy place called Devon, in South England.

            The story begins with an unbreakable friendship between a loyal gallant brown horse called Joey and young tender Albert, who lives in a village, that trains him. Albert and his father, Ted Narracott, a heavy drinker and is also a veteran from the Second Boer War in South Africa, has an unpleasant relationship. When the war comes, the friendship of Albert and Joey is separated when Joey is taken for war. The film then leads us on a wonderful journey with Joey taking a look at sceneries in three different countries, England, Germany and France during the First World War. Will this condition utterly break the friendship or will it bring them back together?

            This film amazes me, though mostly, by the costumes. Joanna Johnston, an Academy Award winner in 2012, is very clever and has done an amazing job with designing the costumes for each country and basing them on each character. As an example, we can see that Ted Narracott, Albert’s father, is an alcoholic and he has never worn different clothes and hat in the entire film. It is no wonder that Steven Spielberg is fascinated by the work of Joanna, and built a good partnership with her as she worked with him in his other films like ‘Lincoln’, ‘Munich’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. Apart from the costumes, I also admire Gary Rydstorm’s hard work in making the sound effects. There are so many sound effects in this film and they all sound really realistic. Using coins to make the sound of running horses and using nitrogen to make the sound of bombs has proven his brilliance in this film and made this film more realistic and believable.

I strongly recommend this movie because this movie has powerful and insightful features. Every part of the scene is enjoyable and you might not even blink during the movie. ‘War Horse’ is one of the best films that Spielberg has ever done. It will change the way think after watching this film as it will touch your heart and brings you joy to your heart. It is definitely worth seeing and is bound to be a box-office hit!

The movie started with a horse giving a birth to a fowl. It was a great moment so far until they had to sell the foal to the auction. Ted Narracott, the owner of the fowl didn’t want to sell it to the mayor, the Lyons. Even though Ted Narracott would have to figure out another way to pay for his rent in order for his family to live. So at the end of the auction, he bought his own fowl with 30 guineas. He got home with the fowl and his wife, Rosey, was mad at home for losing 30 guineas instead of getting money to pay for their rent. But instead his son, Albert was so happy because he really fancy the fowl and he promised his mother that he can teach the fowl to plough the land. After a few days, Albert taught him so many things and he finally came up with a name for the fowl, Joey. But soon, the Lyons asked the Narracotts for their money, but then in the moment of desperation, they begged the Lyons to give them more time to complete the money to pay for their rent.

Ted was so frustrated that he’d kill his own fowl that he bought for 30 guineas, but then Rosey and Albert stopped him and Rosey stopped him from drinking. The day after that, Albert and Joey have succeeded on doing the land. And soon Albert learned more about his father through Rosey, that his father was a hero, not just for the country, but also for the family and himself, he felt bad for killing people for years and he drank because he wanted to forget about the memory so bad. But the day after that, Albert couldn’t find Joey in the barn, and it was the day when England was preparing for the war. Albert ran long enough to find the fowl and he found him being sold to a person in the military, it was hard for Albert to let him leave at first, but then the person from the military promised that he’d take a good care of him. After a few days, it was the day where the war begun, England wasn’t prepared enough and Captain Nicholls, leaving Joey, himself running and he’s captured by the Germans, rivals of the English people.

Then soon, Joey was brought to two German teenagers, Michael and Gunther. The leader of the Germans group assigned Gunther, a 14-years-old kid to join the war, while he assigned Michael, his older brother to take care of the horses. Michael couldn’t accept the fact that his brother couldn’t join him to take care of the horses. Soon, he wished him luck and gave tied the Regimental Pennant that was with Joey before for good luck. But then it the pennant wasn’t just a lucky charm, but it was Michael’s plan of getting his brother out of the war. He brought the horses, Joey and Topthorn to runaway with his brother from the war. They found a windmill house to rest, but not for long enough, they were captured by the Germans and they were killed, leaving the horses inside the house. After the sun rises, a girl called Emilie found them and introduced them to her grandfather happily. Unfortunately, she was having a terrible sickness and her parents died because of the war. She was eager to ride horses, but her grandfather wouldn’t let her to ride them because he was so worried that she would fall and pass away. After a couple of days of Emilie building relationships with the horses, the German military team came over and took their supplies, but luckily they didn’t find the horses that day. That day. The next day, her grandfather let her to ride Joey for a short time, just going to the top and go back again. But then she’s not back when her grandfather proceeded to call her name more than once. When he checked for her, the military team captured her, and they took the horses.

The Germans didn’t treat the horses nicely; they were forced to carry heavy tanks without rest, and when a horse fell down because it became really tired, they would shoot them dead. Topthorn almost lost his life because he’s too tired, but luckily, one of the Germans, Heiggleman and Joey helped him to not get killed. After the tanks were brought them, they shot England a lot of times and so many areas were wrecked. After a few years later, it was Albert’s time to join the military because he’s big enough to join it. It was a war with trenches between England and Germany. Albert, his best friend, Andrew and David Lyons joined to war and David was told to stay in the trench and shoot people dead when he found them, but he was too afraid to do it, and he didn’t want to shoot people dead because he was too naïve to do it and instead, he joined the war. Albert also saved his rival, David Lyons. Luckily, Albert was save and he found Andrew alive, but soon a gas appear and Andrew was killed, while Albert was in medication because he was blinded from the gas.

            Looking back in Germany, Topthorn passed away because he was too tired to walk again. In all of sudden, a tank was coming their way and a few men dragged Heiglemann away from the horses, leaving the horses with the tank. Heiglemann insisted to bring them, but his friends told him to let them stay where they are. Joey was too devastated because his best friend passed away and he couldn’t do anything except to accompany him for a while. But the tank was targeting him and he could do nothing except to run to the safest place away from the tank. But the tank put him to the edge and he couldn’t run anywhere else except to get through the tank. The tank was an obstacle for him since he couldn’t jump. So instead, he walked on the tank and ran away until he reached no man’s land and he was trapped with wires sticking into his skin. It was a stalemate condition. The English men were watching him with their binocular and the Germans also saw him from the distance. They were both trying to call him using different sounds but a man from England brought the white flag, saying that he’s in peace, and his name was Colin. He tried to unlock the wires with a knife, but a German man came with a wire plier and unlocked all the wires. His name was Peter. They talked about giving the horse to whom. And finally, Colin was the one to bring him home.

            After the English military arrived in a shelter, Colin tried to ask the doctor to heal Joey’s legs but the doctor said that there’s nothing he could do about it except to shoot him. When he was about to really shoot him, he heard a certain whistle that brought Joey to the sound and Joey couldn’t be happier to finally find the boy who raised him with good care. Albert proved doctor that the horse belongs to him, even though his eyes were covered and he tried to use his memory to prove it. Then the doctor agreed to try his best to heal the Joey. The next day, at 11 am and two minutes, the war has officially ended and the English military were free to go. But sadly, Albert needed to lose Joey because he needed to be in the auction. His friends helped him by giving him all they have left and he couldn’t get him back because a man (Emilie’s grandpa) bought him with a lot of money Albert and his friends couldn’t afford. Unfortunately, Emilie’s grandpa lost Emilie because of her sickness. But at the end, Emilie’s grandpa gave Joey to Albert, even at the risk that he would have nothing left to accompany him. Albert was so happy to finally bring Joey home and met his parents back when the sun goes down.

          The movie has taught me for showing more empathy, the Lyons might not be the best people, but they gave the Narracotts more time to pay for their rent. The movie gave a good a outline of friendship, Albert couldn’t let Joey go at first and real friends wouldn’t let each other go after what they’ve been through, the movie also taught me to not give up at any circumstances, just like when Albert kept on cheering for Joey and he kept on doing the land until he hurt his legs. There were so many scenes that taught me for being loyal. Like when Rosey told Ted that she could hate him, but then she couldn’t love him less, that means she’s accepting him in any ways, even though they don’t have any more money and Ted is stubborn and a drinker. Albert also promised Joey that he’d look after him after the war has ended. The movie also taught me about trust. Albert trusted Joey so much that he thought that Joey can help his family with paying the rent, it doesn’t mean that he’s not thinking logically, but he thinks positively, but yet logical.  

            The movie started with a horse giving a birth to a fowl. It was a great moment so far until they had to sell the fowl to the auction. Ted Narracott, the owner of the fowl didn’t want to sell it to the mayor, the Lyons. Even though Ted Narracott would have to figure out another way to pay for his rent in order for his family to live. So at the end of the auction, he bought his own fowl with 30 guineas. He got home with the fowl and his wife, Rosey, was mad at home for losing 30 guineas instead of getting money to pay for their rent. But instead his son, Albert was so happy because he really fancy the fowl and he promised his mother that he can teach the fowl to plough the land. After a few days, Albert taught him so many things and he finally came up with a name for the fowl, Joey. But soon, the Lyons asked the Narracotts for their money, but then in the moment of desperation, they begged the Lyons to give them more time to complete the money to pay for their rent. Ted was so frustrated that he’d kill his own fowl that he bought for 30 guineas, but then Rosey and Albert stopped him and Rosey stopped him from drinking. The day after that, Albert and Joey have succeeded on doing the land. And soon Albert learned more about his father through Rosey, that his father was a hero, not just for the country, but also for the family and himself, he felt bad for killing people for years and he drank because he wanted to forget about the memory so bad. But the day after that, Albert couldn’t find Joey in the barn, and it was the day when England was preparing for the war. Albert ran long enough to find the fowl and he found him being sold to a person in the military, it was hard for Albert to let him leave at first, but then the person from the military promised that he’d take a good care of him. After a few days, it was the day where the war begun, England wasn’t prepared enough and the person from the military died, leaving Joey, himself running and he get caught by the Germans, rivals of the English people.

            The movie has taught me for showing more empathy, the Lyons might not be the best people, but they gave the Narracotts more time to pay for their rent. The movie gave a good a outline of friendship, Albert couldn’t let Joey go at first and real friends wouldn’t let each other go after what they’ve been through, the movie also taught me to not give up at any circumstances, just like when Albert kept on cheering for Joey and he kept on doing the land until he hurt his legs. There were so many scenes that taught me for being loyal. Like when Rosey told Ted that she could hate him, but then she couldn’t love him less, that means she’s accepting him in any ways, even though they don’t have any more money and Ted is stubborn and a drinker. Albert also promised Joey that he’d look after him after the war has ended. The movie also taught me about trust. Albert trusted Joey so much that he thought that Joey can help his family with paying the rent, it doesn’t mean that he’s not thinking logically, but he thinks positively, but yet logical.  

Today is such a blessed day. I thought I was going to get the lowest score, but then because God is too nice to me, that He let me to have a better score than what I was expected. And thanks to Ms. H, I'm sure she have wasted so many hours of her life just to shape up our future. Also, to Ms. Clegg, who was very nice to come to our class and to mark our grades, giving higher score than we deserved. Ms. H have taught us a lot of things, I know now how to write my Argumentative essay properly, I know now that we should be putting our thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph. To also write the background, putting them in structure. I also learned to do more research than just a regular research, let the readers know about the things that they don't generally know about. As people said nowadays, like it or not, people will look at you from your appearance, because visualization is the first thing they do towards you, then you're gonna shake their hands and talk. So in an argumentative essay, it's also important to pick the perfect title. Last but not least, she also taught us to be hardworking in everything, discipline and also many things I can't explain, unless I want to spend another minute of your life. No, make worth of it. That's what Ms. H also taught me indirectly. 

    The debate made me feel like I’m in a battle, that I have to give all I have to get a good score at least. I felt my throat was drying, like there wasn’t single drop of water in my mouth, I just kept on talking every time ideas blinking in my mind. I had so many “What Ifs” before the debate assessment, that one thing that I was so afraid of is to not be able to remember any single word once I sit on that chair. I regret for not mentioning some points out. But I was relieved when it all ends, I could finally breathe again and keep the water flowing in my mouth, again. After looking at the score, I wasn’t so happy, but then I thought myself, this isn’t so bad after all. The most important thing is to learn, if we keep doing the same mistake again and again, then it’s bad.