Movie Review:
'The Horse Whisperer' far cry from book
Campus Times
May 15, 1998
"The Horse Whisperer" is a story of love -- love between a
girl and her horse, love between a man and woman, love within a family --
and the trials and tribulations one faces when deciding which love pulls
at the heart the most.
Fourteen-year-old Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson, in her film debut)
becomes emotionally distraught and physically scarred after she and her
horse, Pilgrim, are involved in a terrifying riding accident involving a
truck that leaves her best friend dead.
Grace wakes up to an amputated leg and a crazed horse that no longer
trusts her.
Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas, "The English Patient"), Grace's
mother, is desperate to bring her daughter out from under the black cloud
that follows her day in and day out. She knows that the only way to reach
Grace is through what she loves most -- Pilgrim -- and she knows that her
last resort is a "horse whisperer."
She reads about Tom Booker (Robert Redford, "The Sting"),
who is known as a "horse whisperer" legend, who is able to cure
horses through patience and understanding. To much surprise, Annie, a busy
magazine editor who rarely finds time for her family, packs up Pilgrim and
Grace and heads toward Montana to find the infamous Mr. Booker.
Tom works with Pilgrim for weeks on end, slowly bringing him back to
the confident horse he once was.
Within those weeks, Pilgrim is not the only one who is rehabilitated
through Tom's mentoring. Both Annie and Grace grow and their rocky mother/daughter
relationship develops into something much more loving.
Annie, on the verge of a collapsing marriage, finds herself in love
and in awe of Tom. She could leave her husband and pursue this wonderful
man she has found, except that she has a lot more at stake, a lot more to
consider than just her feelings, especially considering she has just patched
up the relationship with her daughter.
Annie has a family to take care of, and must decide what is more important
-- this mysterious "horse whisperer" that she has fallen in love
with or her family that is slowly growing stronger.
"The Horse Whisperer," directed by Redford, is perfectly cast
with remarkable acting and directing, but like most adapted movies, does
not meet the standards set by the novel by British author Nicholas Evans.
The end is a known tragedy in both instances, but unfortunately, Redford
strays away from the original plot and incidentally weakens the story, leaving
the viewer unsatisfied.
"The Horse Whisper," rated PG-13, opens today and runs two
hours and 44 minutes.
