Seabiscuit

The film is set in the 30s , economical crisis time , the 29 crack and the ¨Great Depression¨ . A lot of people have got starvation and distresses , although with President Franklyn D. Roosevelt and his ¨New Deal¨ America will retrieve its splendor . This is a story of rich and pauper people . It's a fable of hits and flops . The movie centers on a horse and a good rider (Toby McGuire) , the trainer (Chris Cooper) , the owner (Jeff Bridges) and his wife(Elizabeth Banks) and a journalist (Willian H. Macy). The movie is based on real events and there are various flashbacks developing the historical deeds .

In the motion picture there are humans emotions , drama , tearjerker and several horse races . Runtime film is overlong , two hours and some and though the picture is slow-moving , isn't boring , neither tiring . The final duel between two contender horses is overwhelming and exciting . War Admiral was played by one of his descendants, a gelding named Verboom . While the movie describes War Admiral as being a huge horse close to eighteen hands tall, the real-life War Admiral was well known for being one of the smallest sons of Man o' War . War Admiral was actually the same size as Seabiscuit , which was approximately fifteen hands tall . The flick is apt for everybody , because there isn't violence , nor murders , but agreeable feelings . The movie had nomination various Oscars but didn't get Academy Awards and attained a moderated success , though didn't failed at box office . Interpretation by Toby McGuire is cool , Chris Cooper is excellent, as always , and Jeff Bridges is nice . Randy Newman musical score is riveting , likeness to Jason Swartzman cinematography that is fascinating , too . THe picture was well directed by Gary Ross . Rating : 7,5/10 . Very Good , well worth watching . Better tan average .

"Sea Biscuit" is a story about a long shot horse and a man who discover each other on the road to equestrian glory. An extremely rewarding journey though the lives of man and beast. Every aspect of human emotion, bonding and courage is explored with an "equine" tinge. Set in a time when horse racing is more passion than business, Seabiscuit glorifies the positive appeal of horse racing. Every derby event is an emotional doorway which lifts your spirits. Be it the Santa Anita or the Pimilco, you are just just hanging on the edge of your seat praying, vying and hoping for a Seabiscuit win. Such is the emotional grasp and visual brilliance of Gary Ross's direction and Scwartzman's cinematography. Being a thoroughbred race horse by birth, Seabiscuit treads the race track under the watchful eyes of trainer Tom Smith (played by Chris Cooper) and jockey Red Poddard (played by Tobey Mcguire). What follows is a sequence of predictable vicissitudes. Why! This movie wasn't advertised in the mystery genre either!

A frail looking (really) Tobey manages to deeply bond with the horse at least on screen, kudos indeed. Nobody else could have possibly fit into his role as well as he did, physically too. Chris Cooper is the silent marvel. There is a completely subtle tinge to his acting which lays low, yet beautifully exuberates class. Seabiscuit is simply one of those "silent' movies which just hurtles you beyond imaginable frontiers. Sit back and relax and let the long shot consume you.

So here it is: a story about a horse that would give spirit to a whole nation, after the depression of the late 20's and early 30's. Make it a story where the horse and it's jockey have to overcome injury to win it's final great race, and you got your tearjerker (and, therefore, Oscar winner) right there.

But, somehow, 'Seabiscuit' is much more than that. What is definitely a help, is it's incredible cast. Tobey McGuire once more shows he's one of the better youngsters around in Hollywood, and old-timers Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper will do the rest for ya, even though Cooper is not at his best here as Tom Smith, the trainer for the horse. Then there's William H. Macy in a hilarious role as 'Tick Tock McGlaughlin', a radio presenter.

The life-story we follow the most though is that of Charles Howard (Bridges), owner of the horse. As a self-made millionaire selling cars, who lost his son due to a car-accident, he finds a little bit of joy back to life, with his new wife and his new love, the horsing business. His inspirational speeches make 'Seabiscuit' a crowd-pleaser, in particular that of the 'common people', who recognize themselves in the little horse.

As said, the movie is a little bit too much of a happy ending story to really make it into the 'classic' category, but the movie looks great and hasn't got a boring moment in it. Good acting all around therefore make it a very pleasant movie experience. Although the 7 academy award nominations were a little bit much...

7/10.

After the American Depression, the millionaire Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) gets married again with Marcela (Elizabeth Banks) and decides to invest in a race horse. He gathers the old couch Tom Smith (Chris Cooper), the problematic jockey Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) and the horse Seabiscuit, all of them losers, and he believes on them, giving a second chance to them. Seabiscuit becomes a winner and legend in a difficult period of the American life. "Seabiscuit" is a beautiful film with positive and wonderful messages. Charles Howard has the best lines, such as: "When the little guy doesn't know that he is little, he is capable of big things"; or, "Sometimes all somebody needs is a second chance". The excellent and underrated actor Chris Cooper has probably his best performance along his career. Although having 141 minutes running time, the viewer does not feel time passing. I particularly liked not only the direction, performances, locations and reconstitution of a period, but mainly the never corny and very positive messages in the excellent lines and screenplay. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Seabiscuit – Alma de Herói" ("Seabiscuit – Soul of Hero")

I have not read the book or anything about the story this movie was based on - I might have to now since I enjoyed the movie so much. The point of my writing this is to say: if you haven't read the book, you will probably like this movie. I'm sure the book portrayed so much more, but I don't think you can directly compare movies and books. In most cases, I have never loved a movie as much as a book - but that doesn't mean the movie should be disregarded. In some cases emotion can be better portrayed on film. (please note that all my "quotes" are paraphrased from what i remember and only set aside in " " to distinguish it from my writing).

That said, I completely disagree with the first reviewer above who did read the book first. I really DID get the message about what Seabiscuit represented at that time: a second chance, rising above expectations against all odds, and most of all - HOPE. When I told someone I just saw Seabiscuit, they said, "oh, that's about the horse, right?" and I said, "no, it's really a story of hope and rising above tough circumstances - but there is a horse in it." I was surprised at how much history and how many images of the depression were gracefully woven into Seabiscuit. I thought it worked very well and added to the realism of the film.

I also definitely understood that Red Pollard's family was wealthy, and that they lost everything in the depression. It's pretty obvious - the whole family is shown around a great big dinner table in a very nice house; his father even buys him his own horse. Next time you see them, they are basically living out of their car with a whole bunch of other folks doing the same - a kind of depression era makeshift camp.

It's also made clear later on in the movie that he never saw his family again - there are auditory flashbacks to his parents saying they will call him; how he almost dumps all his books into the water; the fact that next time we see him he's a young man and there's no mention of his family ever again in the movie. Seems like they just disappeared - and they did. Red also displays anger and frustration that is noticed by other characters. To me, this points to a sense of abandonment by his family.

Also unlike the other reviewer, I DID care a lot about the race with War Admiral - in fact, i almost had to just skip to the end first because I was so nervous about it! This was NOT just a story of profit. In fact, it never seemed like that was Howard's goal at all - his goal was to prove that the underdog can and will win - to prove that heart and spirit mattered as much as (or even more than) wealth and breeding. That seemed to be the point of the match race with War Admiral.

This is a story of rising above profit to reach an even greater goal. It's an uplifting story, as you can see in the crowd's faces as Howard tells them, "just because he's beaten down by a nose, doesn't mean he's out." and "When the little guy doesn't know he's the little guy, he can do great big things." You can picture the men and women, unemployed and hungry, telling themselves these same words. Things will get better; we may be down, but we're not out. In the words of Tom Smith, "You can't throw a whole life away, just because it's banged up a bit." Red's words at the end are touching as well, "seabiscuit fixed us, and in a sense we fixed each other.'" Red overcame his anger, his fear, his sense of hopelessness. So did Seabiscuit. And if they can, so can you.