Well Robert Redford's latest was just screened for the first time, here's the review from the Swede. Do note that there are spoilers, though nothing that someone who read the novel wouldn't know.
Hello Harry, this is the first time I am writing to you. Last monday, I got the chance to see the first (or so they said anyway) test screening review of Robert Redford's 'The Horse Whisperer' in San Rafeal, just outside San Francisco. Even though me and my friend go to almost every opening movie every weekend, this is the first time we've been to a test screening, and I must admit I wasn't all to excited as I wasn't really in the mood for a girlie-horse-robert-redford-romance. Usually I am pretty open when it comes to movies, but somehow I went into this movie with a feeling that it was going to be bad. Fortunately, I was really surprised. The movie was actually very good. Since I work in the broadcast and film industry, I tend to look at movie as much visually as I look at them story wise, and this movie excelled in both. It wasn't as good as Legends of the Fall visually, but it was still good. The movie starts out fairly fast. This girl, who you find out from the very start has a very rocky relationship with her mother, gets into an accident with her horse, her best friend gets killed, and she looses her leg. The horse runs away after this, and is later found with some organs hanging outside of her body, but is still alive and breathing. I don't know much about horses, but I guess a horse can survive this? Even though the daughter wants to kill the horse to relieve the horse of its pain, the mother refuses to kill off the horse. She reads this article about 'horse whisperers' who can understand a horse like no other man can. Of course this is Robert Redford, and the mother forces her daughter to come with her to go see this man so he can take a look at their horse. So they take the horse with them down to see this man to see if he can help their horse. Of course, it's not only the horse that needs healing, and so the movie's main focus point starts. After that it's like an emotional roller coaster. You'll laugh, you cry, the whole deal. The score wasn't done when we saw it, my friend that came with me recognized pieces from 'Dances of Wolves' and 'Legends of the Fall' which worked really good for this movie. Now the only really bad thing about this movie, is that it was close to three hours long. At one point, it became a bit too boring, at least for me. Don't expect being surprised of how the movie goes, it was an extremely predictable movie, but it was so emotional, and so funny that it was worth it. The second thing that personally bugged me, but didn't really bug my friend, was that everything was too perfect. Even the pain and the hardships they go through are too perfect. In my experiences, pain and tough times has never been that perfect. I think this is very personal though, maybe other people can relate better to what they've gone through. I wouldn't personally say this is a classic, but if you love horses, you'll definitely love this movie, and knowing a couple of girls who really loves horses, this will be without a doubt one of their all time favorite movies. Anyway, that's my two cents worth. Oh yea, call me 'The Swede'.
