Der Pferdeflüsterer

This is a unique, moving story about a girl whose tragic horse-riding accident and subsequent trauma led her family to Montana in search of the man known as the Horse Whisperer. Little did they know that their lives were about to change forever during these few, memorable days spent on the farm. This is a truly beautiful story, a story for sensitive souls, a story for those who care about animals as much as people. The characters are finely drawn and it is a pleasure to watch them unfold as the film progresses. The dialogues are often memorable and wonderfully devoid of the clichés that most Hollywood productions are sprinkled with.

This is a film for people who understand that the 'little' moments in life are the best; a film where pictures truly speak more than a thousand words.

It is a story of love and courage, the courage to fight for you want, or accept things the way they are; the courage to risk losing everything, the courage to accept that loss. There is a wonderful message in this film for all of us - for all those who care enough to see it, that is.

Robert Redford has no trouble with playing an aging cowboy named Tom. He pulls off the quiet, but sturdy cowboy image with perfection. Kristin Scott Thomas portrays Annie Maclean, a woman whose daughter's horse has been injured in an accident. The same accident caused her daughter, Grace, portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, to lose one of her legs. She goes to Tom to get help for the "out of control" horse. Sam Neill plays her husband, and appears to be an afterthought. For animals lovers, this movie has a disturbing beginning. The movie is about relationships, daughter to mother; child to horse; husband to wife; man to horse. The scenery in this movie is breath taking, and Redford took full use of it while directing the movie.

Yes, I agree the film is slow and, perhaps, overlong. Yes, there appears little in common between the methods presented in the film and documented 'horse whispering'.

However this film needed to show the passage of time, which is, after all, the greatest healer. I found the film to be moving.

I was interested in a comment that there was no 'motivation' for the disfunctionality in the family unit. As one who has witnessed many divorces I feel that I can safely say that in real life these forces can be subtle enough to elude the participants; let alone an audience.

I was greatly relieved that the trite ending I envisaged didn't occur.

Overall if you want a gently paced but powerfully emotive film then it is to be recommended; a liking of horses helps greatly!!

I read the book before seeing the movie and was thus, not expecting it to be as good ( I thought the book was extremely well-written) HOwever, I did enjoy the movie. Redford is a terrifc actor and director and I thought the cinematography was great. I found it interesting that the end in the movie does not parallel the book, but I guess they wanted a Hollywood ending. Anyway, good overall movie, and as another viewer eloquently stated, this movie is a refreshing break from all the special effects one sees in many other films.

as always ,anything Robert Redford does is pure class.i really enjoyed this movie.the acting ,superb.there is nothing worse than seeing a movie with what i call,over dramatic actors.unfortunately,there are many of them around.the horse whisperer,really left me thinking about the whole story,you feel as though you are part of it.i have seen it 26 times and still enjoy every minute of it.i must confess,i do not really have a favourite movie,actor,actress or type of movie.I'm inclined to rate all that i do see on a scale of one to ten.i would give this one a rating of 9.i do admire the fact there was no nudity or full sex scenes.i don't think the latter is really necessary.