War Horse

PasoBaby_CarolU · War Horse

So, who is planning to see War Horse on Christmas? I have no family coming in, so the movies sounds like a good thing. I just hope it isn't too depressing. I know the ending is happy, but I'm a boob when I watch horses in pain...cried all the way through The Horse Whisperer.

HopeMissouri

Whether I see it depends upon your answer: Sad or Happy endling?

CoolsLadyInRed

Going!My hubby said he would even go:) How great is that:)

gaitinalong

Not me. I still tear up when I hear the old Lassie theme song and don't show me Old Yeller either.

Someone's Collie ran out in front of my parents truck the night they took me to see Old Yeller. Dad couldn't miss it and killed it. Then I got to go see Old Yeller die - I was nine - I was traumatized for years.

I've seen the War Horse ads and no way am I subjecting my nerves and blood pressure to that. I would be in tears from beginning to end, whether I needed to be or not. I'll wait to read the reviews on here

P.S. It's ok to laugh at all that - I can laugh now - lollol

Spitfire

Spoiler below in white - highlight to read it!

Happy ending =)

jackspark

I planned to go on Christmas day but now, more family plans, will have to wait until the 27th. Can't wait

HopeMissouri

Spitfire that's not a spoiler for me! Now I know how to plan.

bit

I'm an Old Yeller survivor, too. My cousin had to take me out of the theater when Bambi's mom died. I was hysterical. I can't even watch the commercials for War Horse.

PasoBaby_CarolU

OK...so we're all boobs. Funny.

But now, I'm scared to go see it.

whisperingwindfarms

Not going - will watch it on PPV on DirecTV. That way if I hate it, I can just walk away.

PasoBaby_CarolU

You know what would be REALLY cool...Cavalia on Imax!

DaisyMae

The original version is still on in theatres here in the UK but I haven't been to see it as I don't want to cry in public (EVERYBODY cries watching it) but when the film comes out on DVD I'll probably get it.

A friend of mine was an extra in the cavalry scenes and it was interesting to hear about what it was like to film.
Apparently they sourced all the horses, apart from the main characters, from polo yards.

thelmanelle

Yes, Carol. Cavalia and Odysseo...both shows. Both worth seeing and I bought the video and would buy the Odysseo if they had it for sell. they 'd said in the Q & A intermission that we would have that soon on the website. Yay!

thebundychick

This was on our TV a few months ago

http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2011/s3336393.htm

Yes, warhorse has a happy ending, but not for the woman who trained him in the movie. The deal was that she could have ANY two horses that she wanted as part payment for her work in the movie. She chose "Abraham" (Warhorse) and another, due to the incredible depth of bond she formed with this horse. At the end of the movie, the person who owned Abraham reniged on the agreement and refused to give him over.

She is beyond devestated.

"
ZELIE BULLEN: Abraham, beautiful horse that he is, he seemed outwardly confident but in fact he’s not. He had a lot of personality. He’s a little bit cheeky. He’s independent but not terribly confident, so there was a fine line to walk there as a trainer. He was very good to work with the actors. So you know, a lot of the time when you need that really important emotional stuff, then Abraham would be called forward, yeah. I think perhaps with a different trainer- I know with a different trainer Abraham wouldn’t have been able to perform the way that he did with me. And I think time and time again rather than say, increasing the discipline or being assertive with him, I would just, you know, simply go up and stroke his neck for a little while and just give him some confidence and make him feel that’s everything’s OK, and all the people and all the equipment and all the noise, or whatever, it didn’t really matter. Steven Spielberg was a very difficult director to work for. He has so much in his head, surely, at any one moment but he is a man of few words. One day, Steven took me aside and he briefed me, he said "You know this is a really important sequence in the movie, if this doesn’t come out just right, it’s make or break for the movie" And I was thinking "Could you put any more pressure on me?!" He said, "I want this horse excited. It’s got to be so excited!" To me an excited horse is a horse showing a lot of movement. So I bring the horse in, bring him in hard and fast and stop the horse and make him excited. Throw his head around, get him crazy. "Cut, cut, cut, cut!" OK. Let’s try that again. We must have tried it three or four times, I suppose, before Steven starts getting visually distressed. Steven yells out "Cut cut! It’s a disaster! It’s a complete disaster! " And I just sunk, died a thousand deaths and I thought 'This is the lowest point in my whole career.' Steven called me into his tent "Bring her here, bring her here". And he said "The horse must be happy, the horse must be happy". And I said "Do you mean affectionate? Do you want him to nuzzle? Do you want him to be gentle and warm?" And "Of course that’s what I want!" He said, "Yes, that’s what I want! Now go and do it!" And poor old Abraham had to go from this crazy excited behaviour that I thought Steven was asking for to this beautiful, gentle, soft, loving acting stuff - and he did really, really well and I was very proud of him. And it was a very scary day for Abraham and I.

CRAIG BULLEN, HUSBAND: The bond that Zelie and he had was special, it was good.

TAMZIN MONDY, FRIEND: She says that he made her look good, that’s who he was. He was a very talented horse, and she just moulded him a little bit and he made her look good.

LYDIA EMERY, FRIEND: Oh! She can make any horse look good. That’s just her being modest, I think, because she did it. She taught him what he knew and she formed the relationship with him - so I’m sure he was part of it but he wouldn’t have done that without her.
ZELIE BULLEN: At the end of the job and Steven threw his arms out for a big hug and he said "All of the love that you put into your animals has come out on screen, on my screen, and it will be there forever." It meant a lot to me, and to Craig too.

CRAIG BULLEN, HUSBAND: Before we left home, part of our deal would be that we could take two horses of our choice home after the job.

TAMZIN MONDY, FRIEND: So you know she really wanted to bring Abraham back here and continue building that relationship but also to assure herself that, you know, he’s happy. He’s such a sensitive horse.

CRAIG BULLEN, HUSBAND: But the guy who actually owned Abraham, he just reneged on the deal and he just said no. And that was it. Non-negotiable. That’s as simple as that. Little do they realise there’s no one in England that can work that horse. They can all try to but that horse is way smarter than most of the trainers that are in England.

ZELIE BULLEN: Even Colt still talks about Abraham. I still live in hope that one day he’ll make his way back here. And I don’t know how, and I don’t know when but I just miss that horse. I see him and you know I’ve worked with a lot of horses and I’ve loved a lot of horses, and still do love a lot of horses, but Abraham’s one in a million for me.

MARK EADY, FRIEND: You know, one of the things I like most about Zelie is she doesn't forget people. And that is a rare thing in the entertainment industry. Usually people go on to bigger and better things and they're gone! You don't see them anymore. But Zelie isn't like that and I don't think she'll ever be like that. After they do a big picture like that, they like to come home, spend time at home, time with Colt, time with each other on their farm and just chill out.

ZELIE BULLEN: You know I feel like I owe the world to the animal kingdom. I feel like I owe everything that I am, that I have, that I’ve become to the animal kingdom. It’s my life and it’s my release. They are my reward. I’m grateful for this gift, or this blessing, to have been born with just wanting to be around them.

END CAPTIONS:
Zelie Bullen says she remains hopeful she will be reunited with Abraham one day.

Next year she starts work on a major film about the rescue of animals from the Baghdad Zoo during the Iraq invasion.

"

Clarissa

Hey bundy you beat me to it!! You should have mentioned at the outset that the trainer is an Aussie girl. Many overseas people cannot access our Australian Broadcasting Commission website apparently.

[quote]The horse that played the part was trained by an Aussie girl who has now gone on to work with the great s of the industry. Our ABC TV showed a 30min Australian Story about her & the making of the movie. She is a Bullen of Bullen’s Circus fame but married to a NH horse trainer guy. She trained several horses in Aust for various movies & TV shows. She had to find & train several horses in Britain for the producers to choose from. That big warmblood they did choose for the main horse was apparently quite a fractious creature that she had to butter up continuously to get good work from. But he seemed to know he had a job to do & would knuckle down to it despite showing his contempt on many occasions. He had to be taught to rear under arduous conditions & gallop through exploding mounds of dirt. The movie was made 2yrs ago. Their method seemed to be a combined version of many versions of NH although they were using Parelli gear on the horses they were handling during the filming of the ABC show.

PasoBaby_CarolU

http://www.observer.com/2011/12/t...ar-horse-is-not-just-a-war-horse/

I'm going to have to take some Kleenex for sure, I cried reading the review! LOL

CoolsLadyInRed

I can hardly wait til tomorrow!!! The review is enough to get me to go. I can hardly believe the millions of horses lost. I understand why there were so many and why they were in the war but I can't fathom that many horses period. Yep, tissues and popcorn.

jackspark

Not going tomorrow but sometime next week so maybe I'll have time to get my tissues packed

PasoBaby_CarolU

Well, I didn't make it today..have some kind of evil mean stomach flu bug. Not even doing dinner today, put it off to tomorrow and I BETTER be BETTER then.

CoolsLadyInRed

I saw it!!! Great movie! It reminded me of a cross between Lassie and Black Beauty. Those poor horses. Even if no animals were harmed they must have worked hard. Maybe it is just movies that make it look like that but I was impressed with the horses they used.
Can't talk about it but I can't wait to take my daughter and granddaughter

Even my husband (non horse) thought it was pretty good.
Oh yuk Carol, hope you are feeling better soon!

sandra smith

Carol Ugh to being sick on Christmas. It's not fair!!!!

Maybe I could watch War Horse after all. At first, it sounded too sad for words.

Sandra

lizloveshorses

I had a book of short stories that had an excerpt from War Horse, and then the book came into my hands. It is indescribably sad but oh so beautiful. I can't make it to the theatre yet.

CoolsLadyInRed

If you read Carol's clip at the top it prepares you for you what you will see. War is a terrible thing to begin with and they used animals to help with the cause. I was telling my daughter(non horse) about it and she said she was reading one of her son's scholastic books. The book was telling how in one of the wars soldiers strapped bombs on German Shepherds and then had them run under tanks to blow them up. I nearly choked!!!

I guess it is history and an interesting fact although extremely sad.

thelmanelle

Okay, I just can't go. I will have to wait for the DVD and then, see if can watch it. I do not want to sob aloud at a movie theater.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Sonya, I think pretty much everyone will be crying in it...I'm not too worried about that part. My stomach feels OK this morning, but hubby is going skiing. I may just take myself to see it.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Pat Rice-Kuffner posted this...thought you'd like it..

http://blogs.equisearch.com/warhorseblog/

PasoBaby_CarolU

My niece's sister posted this o n Facebook. I thought it appropriate here.

Tears are nothing to be ashamed of. Since birth, they've been proof we're alive.

Spitfire

I went and saw it yesterday at the opening. Fantastic, absolutely brilliant. Howl-worthy, sure, but definitely worth seeing.

thelmanelle

But, I cry more than the ordinary person. I am truly sensitive. I really think I will have to see it alone. Just reading posts and all are almost too much. Let alone reading other folks opinions. heck! I am upset because we can't take in the coon hound that so reminds me of my Connie the Coonhound. But, our income is tight due to cutbacks and we can't take the dog. So I had to refuse her.

I never had to do that before....I FEEL SICK!

CoolsLadyInRed

HopeMissouri

History of the BLUE Cross, War Horse archives: http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2011/12/142.shtml

Chris

I saw it. Definitely would not take a child to see it. Spielberg did not pull many punches when depicting the horrors of war for both human and equine.

jackspark

Saw it last night and both husband and I felt that it did a great job depicting the horrors of war and for that it's valuable! We both loved it

coveredbridgefarm

I enjoyed the movie but I have to say that I thought it was a fairly aseptic portrayal of both war and animal abuse. There is nothing wrong with portraying those things in that manner but, in reality, both are much worse than the movie portrayed, imo.

Larry

PasoBaby_CarolU

War Horse DVDs go on sale on April 3.

CoolsLadyInRed

Thanks, Carol!

sandra smith

Thanks Carol for letting us know. I'm not sure I really want to see it. May change my mind.

Sandra

misstux

I'm in the same boat with you, not sure I want to see it.