War Horse Page #2

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You were right what you said, Dad.

Hell do it,

You told Lyons, Hell plow that field.

And he will!

Youll see. Hell show you.

Well show you.

Well get it done.

Let go. Let go.

Go back to the house.

Here, here.

Some days are best forgotten.

Today aint one of them. Come on.

How are you today, Joey?

I don't know much about life, boy,

But I do know that there are

big days and there are small days.

And most days are small days,

and, well, they don't matter

much to anyone... but this...

Well, this is a big one.

This is our big day.

Well, it's cold out there.

So I'm going to take this off...

Well, if it's tough for you,

it should be tough for me, too...

Now, Im gonna

teach you how to plow...

...and youre gonna learn.

Is that understood?

And then we can be together,

which is how I believe things are meant to be.

Boy. Steady, boy.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Come on.

Easy, easy...

Look at me, Joey.

See?

See?

Youve just gotta

put your nose through.

Thats it.

See? Youve got it.

Youve got it.

Good boy. There...

Too large, too rocky,

matted with grass roots.

Even a sturdy plow horsed

never manage it alone.

Yet he will, I say.

Youd swear hed sprout wings

and fly if Albert had told you so.

Its a fine thing, loyal to your

mate. Even if he is a bit barmy.

A team of two might manage,

given a month and good weather.

Ted too squeamish to watch, is he?

Course hes watching.

Well, youve raised him up

a true Narracott, Ted,

Picture of his father, he is:

Not a dollop of ordinary sense

but that thick stubbornness...

...thatll lead him to insist on the impossible.

Wasnt a farmer in Devon didnt

admire you, myself among em,

Leaving your brothers that

fine farm and setting yourself...

...at this stoney patch

of unpromising ground.

Youve fettle enough for twenty men,

But with a gimpy leg and the drinking...

For the pain, isnt it,

that you drink?

Yeah, none of us could have

anticipated an ending better than this.

Makes me question the wisdom of the charity

that urged me to rent you this place,

Not only looking at you, me old pal,

but that pretty little wife of yours,

thought you were a spark, she did.

And now your sons sinking into the

selfsame bog thats swallowing you.

See, Joey.

I got the collar, too!

Come on, boy. Walk on. Thats it.

Walk on!

Walk on, Joey.

Come on, boy, walk on.

Youd be better off startin at the

top of the hill and goin down!

Gravitys the only friend youre

gonna have today, young lad.

Walk on, Joey! Walk on!

Come on, Joey, walk on.

Walk on, boy.

Walk on. Come on, walk on.

Itll take the whip to move him.

Bravo! Youve reached the top of the hill!

Off you go again, boy!

Youll make even better

time comin down!

Good boy. Good lad. Good lad.

Now walk on. Good boy.

Albie, were all with ya!

Look look look!

The plow hasnt even cut yet!

Do you know,

I believe we can do it, Joey.

I knew when I first saw

you that youd be the best of us.

Thats why he bought you.

He knows youve all the courage he never had.

I knew when I first saw you that

youd be the one whod save us.

Whoa. Whoa.

Youve got no chance, lad.

Hell not turn over half an acre.

Give it up now.

Youve done well.

Youve tried hard.

Youre more of a man than your father.

Come on now, Mr. Lyons,

thats a bit rough, isnt it?

Well, hell destroy that horse.

Ill be over Thursday.

Give you a day to close it up.

Your wool.

Im sorry, Rosie.

Now, boy!

Youve got to do it, Joey.

You dont know, so Im gonna have to

do the knowing for you...

...when the rest of our lives depend on this!

So get set to pull, and pull straight!

And pull hard!

Now, boy! Go!

Walk on, Joey! Walk on!

Thats it!

Good boy, Joey! Good boy!

Walk on! Walk on!

Walk on! Walk on, Joey!

Go around it!

Whoa, Joey!

Whoa, Joey!

Joey! Joey, whoa whoa whoa!

Joey, stop!

Youll break the blade...

Will you look at you?

Id not let a child of mine slip in

the mud alongside a plow blade.

He could lose a foot!

Youll likelier lose an eye, Mr. Lyons,

If you carry on prating at me

how to manage my son!

Or my plow, or my horse,

or my field, or my farm!

Come on, Albie! Push on through!

Get it done, Albie! Get it done!

Oh, my pair of fools.

My mighty fools.

Youre as battered and bloodied as he is.

And wheres Dad?

Still in the bottom field.

Stumbling about, I suppose.

Its not the drink, Albert,

that makes him stumble -

He drinks, mum.

Well, so might you if youd been

where hes been, seen what hes seen!

Well, he dont talk to me about it.

He dont talk about it because he cant.

There arent words

for some things.

Come here...

The miceve been at it.

Sit down.

Here. Its his campaign pennant.

He were Sergeant,

Seventh Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry.

And that is the Queens South Africa Medal.

Every man who fought

in the Boer War got one of those.

But this...

Thats the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Not dads?

Well it aint mine, dear.

He got that after the fighting at Transvaal.

After hed been hurt,

and hed saved some other lads,

and well... I dont know

what else, he wont tell me either.

But the first day he got home

he just tossed them out.

First day he could walk,

he threw em straight in the dustbin,

and wouldnt hear a word I said not to.

See, what you done today, you and

Joey,

youre chuffed up now, and so

you should be, my splendid boy.

Its good to be proud

when you done something good.

But what he done, in Africa,

whatever it was,

He takes no pride in it.

Hard as it surely was,

and however much pain its cost him,

he refuses to be

proud of killing, I suppose.

Id be proud.

If Id gone off to war. If Id gone

and saved my mates, and -

Well, whether or not you think

youd do the same thing as him...

Think how brave he is

for refusing to be proud.

Oh, your dad makes mistakes. And he drinks

to forget the mistakes that hes made. but...

But he never gave up,

and he does that for us.

And today, you showed the world

its all been worth it.

You keep looking after Joey and

hell always be looking after you.

Sergeant, Seventh Battalion,

Imperial Yeomanry.

You see this, Joey?

Its been through an entire war.

Im not stealing it.

Ill give it

back to him, someday.

Im the only boy

that drives in the village.

- No one else drives but me.

- Oh, yeah?

Thats right and this is my dads car.

Youre lucky that youre in it.

Im not normally allowed

to drive it cause its so -

Is he a friend of yours?

Come on, boy,

lets show her how to fly!

Well... youre clearly

not gonna be a jumper.

We can try planting something else,

Or we could hire ourselves out to Uncle Bob.

How else we gonna pay Mr. Lyons rent?

What we gonna do?

I used to believe that God gave each man

his fair portion of bad luck.

I dont feel that any more.

Ive had more than my share.

Youll stop loving me, Rose.

And I wont blame you when you do.

Well, I might hate you more,

but Ill never love you less.

Its war!

We are at War with Germany.

You hear?

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