I have to admit that there were a few times when my attention wandered. Perhaps that's not surprising. It's a family movie - one that really should be watched with children, I suppose, but it intrigued me for a couple of reasons. First because it was set in and filmed on location in the northern Australian countryside (and faraway - from my perspective in Canada - Australia fascinates me) and I have to say that the scenery and cinematography were brilliant. It captured the setting well and transported the viewer into that context, including some spectacular scenes involving the horses which must have been difficult to film. Second, because (although I'm not a passionate fan of his) this was a very early role for Russell Crowe before he became familiar to North American audiences as THE Russell Crowe, and that made me curious. So I tuned in for those two reasons and was not disappointed.
The film revolves around the adventures of a magnificent and wild silver stallion who roams the countryside and who claims the attention of Darcy (Crowe) - "The Man" - who wants to capture him. Darcy is usually referred to as "The Man" by the narrator (Caroline Goodall) - which establishes the tone of the movie. Humanity is the intruder here, the adversary, even the enemy. What matters is freedom for these horses and "The Man" (and all of humanity) stands in the way of that freedom. The point is made very clearly. The story unfolds as it's shared by Elyne (also Goodall) with her daughter Indi (Amiel Daemion.) It's a mythical sort of tale - but we eventually discover, as we all know, that there's a kernel of truth behind all myths. Crowe, Goodall and Daemion were all fine, but the star is the Australian scenery and wildlife, and especially the wild stallions and Thowra - the mythic Silver Brumby. If Darcy represents the threat of humanity, Elyne is its hope and Indi has to learn. Elyne's relationship with Indi is actually in many ways a parallel to Thowra's relationship with his mother BelBel. Both Thowra and Indi have to learn some lessons about life and freedom from their mothers. Indi hates the idea of Thowra being captured and losing his freedom, but when she and her mother take in an injured baby kangaroo and nurse it back to health, Indi becomes attached and doesn't want to set it free. Through both the experience with the kangaroo and the story of Thowra, Indi learns how valuable freedom is. The movie ends with what I thought was a powerful testimony to the desire to be free and the closing credits roll while a truly haunting theme song ("Son Of The Wind") is played.
I understand this movie was based on a series of Australian novels. Some suggest that the adaptation isn't very good. I've never read the novels (and had never heard of the story until I discovered the movie) so that's of no concern to me. I'd highly recommend this for family viewing, but even for an adult, there's a lot here to enjoy, even if the family oriented theme does at times cause your thoughts to wander a bit as an adult. But they never wander too far, because there's always something to bring you back.
