War horse

Book version:

A nice book to read from Michael Morpurgo.
As i used to do horse-riding, this book has brought many lovely childhood memories.
This is the story of a strong friendship between a Young man (Albert) and a horse (Joey) he's grown up with at the farm.

We follow the adventures of Joey, as he narrates his story and tells how he was sold to the army after growing up alongside his best friend Albert at the farm, how he lived and saw the cruelty of the war, how he had faced death through his fellow army companions, separation and fought to survive in the hope to see his Albert again.
As he tells his tale, we see how war is strongly criticized as an empty, useless childish game between two parties which only resulted in spilled blood and sadness, and how friendship has given him the strength to move on, to become a brave horse that somehow gave courage and comfort to the soldiers and finally the hope to reach his goal.
The writing is quite smooth, detailed but not too much; so all ages can read and enjoy the book.
I loved reading it, i didn't want to finish it but i noticed how it was difficult to resist, so I'll probably look for other stories from Mr. Morpurgo.
This story has earned great reviews from readers and has even be screened on TV and at the theater.
Here is my review of the TV version and i will write a review once I've seen it at the theater, but just the trailer makes it look amazing.

Film version:

 Slightly different from the book, and as you know, most of the time a movie can't summarize all the details in the book, it still managed to express clearly the feelings of all characters and events that occured as the story was told.
If you're a horse lover, just like me, it is possible that you might shed some tears at some scenes, because some are quite heartbreaking just by listening to the horse's cries and the look on his eyes and the strong bond that had been established between him and Albert.
Also, you can't ignore the devastating side of the war, and ask yourself why does it have to happen?
For there is one scene when you begin to say that such battle shouldn't exist, that it has no reason to be; in the end humans can be in peace if they know how to establish a communication where none would be an outcast.
As the story goes on, the young horse turns into a brave hero that fought his way out to freedom and a Young farmer becomes a man of honour.
Horses aren't useless, silly and senseless creatures. They merely have their own way of expression, if you can the patience and care to listen, he will hear you and you will understand him.

I hope you enjoyed this short review. I'm looking forward to the theater version.