‘War Horse’ scene

In “War Horse,” there’s a scene in which two soldiers, one German and one British, tread uneasily into No Man’s Land — the nightmarish killing field between the trenches that defined World War I combat — to work together to save a horse named Joey that is trapped in barbed wire. For director Steven Spielberg, the scene — which is tense but also laced with humor — is a pivotal moment:

“It was a selling point for me in the sense that when I saw the play there’s [a similar] moment, but it’s not an extended moment. It’s more of a gesture of optimism and hope, and not fully fleshed out. I knew it was something I needed to do in the broader sense to enhance the themes we were dealing with in the movie adaptation.”

— Geoff Boucher