Boyhood meets Cowgirl Power meets Chloé Zhao's "The Rider"! How anyone who loves humanity, horses, and nature could not love this gorgeous docudrama, I'll never understand. An extended family of young and younger people, mostly female, fight through the daily challenges of managing a horse ranch in the Badlands area of South Dakota, somewhere East of Wall.
They seek to combine fact and fiction to tell their unique story in unique ways, all on a shoestring budget with some amateur actors playing themselves. Three years of video footage and a mere twenty four days of low budget shooting later, what could go wrong?
But more importantly, what could go right? Apparently an awful lot because audiences don't hand out heartfelt standing ovations at Sundance festivals like children's candy. With many tears flowing the audience in Park City professed their sincere gratitude to these real life superstars of the silver screen and the silver spur.
When I saw the film yesterday I was spellbound by a number of shots that reminded me of my own disadvantaged childhood and my love of nature. Growing up in the city I didn't get to see much of it like this family does but the challenges of my youth were very much the same.
What's wrong with my family? Why are we broken? How did we get here? Who am I? Where am I going? How do I become someone I can be proud of being someday? Then ultimately, how can we help others to become what they can all be proud of becoming, and have a lot of fun along the way. How can I help them?
Something about seeing a simple jump cut to young Porshia's Championship buckles on a little shelf in her room held me in awe of the feeling it resurrected, that I also still remember from way back then. That someday maybe I could achieve something, and be happy, and be proud of myself and of my extended family. That maybe someday the world would make complete sense and I would enjoy and be grateful every minute of being alive.
Never mind that suicide is a central part of the story. Or that a young girl eaves dropping on adults in her family late one night revealed the awful truth of that heartbreaking event. This is a story that affirms everything good about life and death. You leave the theater grateful that such storytelling still exists in the world. That real people like this still exist!
It seems that from the report at Sundance of the reception of this amazing film in Park City, it gave them all that sense of accomplishment. It's so often is missing in the lives of the underdogs, the people living on the edge and barely getting by. That it was given by their peers who also love nature, and their animals, and their extended families, made the report all the more heartfelt and appreciative.
My only question is wanting to know more about the Native American connections in the family. Jesse Thorson let's out a few war hoops at the end on his horse, to make sure we all know where he originally came from. Other than a dedication to a person named Warhawk, I can find nothing on that Native connection. Jesse, and what appears to be his girlfriend and maybe even a better trick rider, are important characters in the story and deserve a bit more attention as to their own Native connections.
In any case, someone please give Kate Beecroft, Tabatha and Porshia, and this wonderful group of kids and adults more than just some applause or kind words so that their legendary story can be enjoyed by more of us. It is something that makes it crystal clear what life is all about. They've also earned a place in indie film history in my heart, a fellow underdog also made good. Giddeyup!
