# Horse Whisperer, The (1998)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

    THE HORSE WHISPERER

Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Touchstone Pictures Director: Robert Redford Writer: Eric Roth, Richard La Gravenese, novel by Nicholas Evans Cast: Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Cooper

In his fluffy play "California Suite," Neil Simon's tense, chain- smoking New York magazine writer visits her laid-back ex-husband in southern California. He, Bill Warren, cannot understand why his ex continues to live in the fast-paced big city while she, Hannah Warren, is appalled by what she considers Bill's sloth. Their mutual incomprehension continues long after their marriage has dissolved. The writer does not take sides, but rather implies that while there's no place like home, human beings must decide for themselves where they prefer to be.

Robert Redford, on the other hand, does take a stand in the conflict between city mouse and country mouse. The celebrated actor, who surpassed Paul Newman as the country's most popular performer during the 1970s, maintains a home in Manhattan but spends most of his time on his vast properties in Utah. His inclination is with the open spaces, or so you'll have to believe if you accept "The Horse Whisperer" as his adulation of the American west. "The Horse Whisperer" is filmed primarily in Montana, where the grass grows tall and for some is greener on the other side. For others, less jaded, this turf is the color of the finest emerald.

The movie, which stars Robert Redford (who also directed and co-produced the story from a best-selling novel by the English writer Nicholas Evans), deals with a woman who edits a slick, urban magazine, is vaguely dissatisfied with her marriage to a good man, and who finds passion and meaning among people who live in a different world. Annie MacLean (Kristin Scott Thomas) lives with her lawyer husband Robert (Sam Neill) and their 14-year-old daughter Grace (Scarlett Johansson). On one snowy day in their upstate New York country home, young Grace goes for a ride with her friend on her beloved horse Pilgrim. A freak accident throws her friend from her horse where she is pulled along the ground. Grace's attempt to rescue her pal puts both in the path of a skidding 18-wheeler, killing her friend, injuring Pilgrim severely, and causing Grace to lose part of her right leg. Annie must now cope with a teenager who is plunged into depression and a badly damaged horse which has become so traumatized that he turns feral. The scenario brings to mind a news event which broke just two weeks before the opening of the picture... * * * NOLENSVILLE, Tenn. (AP May 5) -- An enraged horse known for being unruly kicked a man to death. Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Dillon said Tuesday that Billy Camron, believed to be 64, suffered severe injuries to his head, back and other parts of his body and also had several bite marks. Dillon quoted Camron's son as saying "it was just a mean horse." Deputies said they found the horse running "rampant in the field" when they arrived Monday night. The son authorized the horse to be killed. * * *

Pilgrim, however, had never been a mean horse and had, in fact, tried to protect his rider from injury. Wounds inflicted on him had turned him into a untamed beast, and Annie rejects the advice of her vet (Cherry Jones) to "put him down" seeking out a horse whisperer to restore his sanity.

"The Horse Whisperer" encompasses two epic stories during its ample, 164-minute span. On one level, the picture deals with the attempts of the title character, Tom Booker (Robert Redford) to administer to a psychotic animal using a technique unknown in the East and, in fact, even in his own country. As Booker puts it, he does not treat people with a horse problem; he handles horses with people difficulties. On another plane, "The Horse Whisperer" is a romance involving a slowly-growing relationship between a gentle rancher who has not felt the pangs of love since he split up with his wife, and an edgy, urban sophisticate who had not realized she could respond in a vigorous way to a man. The heady effect of the plains spirit works its mysteries on young Grace as well, who is lifted from her grand funk under the influence of the sensitive horseman and the kindness of the extended family of ranchers she has grown to respect.

Redford seems to have chosen the subject to venerate a way of life which is fading under the sway of the large corporations: the spirit of the independent cowboys who appear so remote from the attractions of the big city that they might be living on Mars. They are contrasted with what passes for civilization by some clever, homespun dialogue. Told that a New York woman has come to spend time in Montana, Frank Booker (Chris Cooper), Tom's brother, suggests "Mixed salads...New York women like mixed salads"--as he and his family dig into their robust dinner of meat, mashed potatoes and thickly-buttered bread. The Bookers seem to amaze Grace and Annie momentarily when they recite a quiet prayer just before digging into their spread, though Frank's down-home wife Diane (Dianne Wiest), not wholly satisfied by her life, wistfully suggests that she would like to travel to Morocco. Yet another jarring difference between Montana and Manhattan emerges when Annie's cell phone goes off, alarming the horse whom Tom is struggling to tame. A city dweller could scarcely imagine Tom's patience when in one incident, as Pilgrim runs away from his corral, the horse is captivated by the patient Tom who simply sits on the grass and stares at the animal for hours as if to say "It's your decision."

You come away from the movie with a more visceral understanding of why Kevin Bacon and Peter Fonda spend most of their time on their Montana ranches and why Redford would choose to live in Utah, spending only a fraction of his year in New York. Redford's is a west of Marlboro men who don't smoke, rough-and tumble cowpokes who don't curse, and squeaky-clean kids who say "ma'am" and "thank you" and are genuinely involved in the chores on their ranch. In short it's about home, perhaps the most important word in the English language. In Redford's terms happiness belongs to those who have found it.

Scarlett Johansson provides us with a believable performance of a fun-loving girl who, like her cherished equine, turns bratty from a serious injury but who has become wholly rehabilitated under the guidance of a considerate man. Kristin Scott Thomas effectively bares her conflict between a devotion to her dependable and loving husband and her passion for a westerner who is firmly rooted to his place and its history. Robert Redford continues to amaze. This sixty- year old, impossibly handsome actor will probably continue playing square-jawed, sky-eyed, lonely heroes well into his eighties, and we don't wonder that after seeing the movie "Indecent Proposal," a young man in the audience who said to his date: "Would you sleep with him for a million dollars?" gets the reply from the sweet young thing, "Sure: but you'll have to give me some time to raise the money." Rated PG-13. Running time: 164 minutes. (C) Harvey Karten 1998

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews