Analysis Of The Film War Horse

The movie I chose to analyze for historical accuracy was War Horse. This movie was set in the First World War, starting in Britain but the story also explored France and Germany during this time period as well. Three scenes will be analyzed: the trench warfare scene between the British and the Germans, the scene where the British soldiers were gassed, and the scene where the British were getting patched up and nursed. War Horse does well to stick to the historical accuracy of what happened during the First World War due to the fact that the three scenes that I have chosen to analyze are not embellished and are close to what really happened.
The First World War introduced a new type of warfare. New weapons were combined with old strategies and tactics. Needless to say, the results were horrific. However, a new type of warfare was introduced: trench warfare. In the movie War Horse, the character that owned the horse originally while he worked on his farm, Albert Narracott, finally was old enough to join the army. His first sight of battle was the Battle of Somme which took place in France near the Somme River. During this battle, the British troops start out in trenches, which were pretty much tunnels dug strategically to avoid gunfire. The soldiers would wait until they were told to advance, and they would run from one trench to the next. Trenches and the area between trenches were muddy and the trenches themselves were poorly conditioned (http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch1_trench.html). Many of the soldiers who fought in trenches succumbed to a foot disease called trench foot and if not treated immediately, gangrene could infect the foot and an amputation would be necessary for survival. Commanding officers ordered one or t...

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...vie also captured the scene where Albert and the other British soldiers were gassed by the Germans using mustard gas, a chemical agent that eroded the skin causing blisters, if breathed in caused respiratory problems, and if it had contact with the eyes it would cause blindness for a period of time. Injured soldiers would have to be carried to medic areas that were understaffed and largely improvised so disease would spread if the surgeons were not careful. This movie portrayed these scenes as close to the real thing as possible. It showed the viewer that the First World War was brutal and survival was very difficult which made the reunion between Joey and Albert that much more powerful. The movie War Horse is extremely historically accurate and, in the three scenes that I have chosen, the movie was able to correctly portray how the conditions and battles were like.