Before I
begin talking about this film, let me get one thing clear with you wonderful
readers. I adore horses. I do not adore horse racing. I will admit to not being well educated on
the art of horse racing, but I’m not a fan of pressuring animals to do
something they do not have a voice to make an opinion on. However, for this post, I’m willing to look
past my feelings on the matter and focus on the film.
Secretariat from 2010 stars Diane Lane as
Penny Chenery Tweedy, a woman who had to make a difficult decision between
raising her family and raising a horse.
Not just any horse, however, but one which is the fastest known to
mankind, of all time. Without giving much away, challenges arise during the
duration but this heartwarming film will melt just about any soul.
Lane gives
a revealing and wonderful performance of Penny, continually proving how she
brings consistent depth to each character she portrays. The brilliant Margo Martindale plays Miss
Ham, Penny’s father’s personal assistant.
Also, huge credit must be given to Nelsan Ellis, who played Eddie Sweat,
the wonderfully charming caretaker of Big Red.
This film briefly stars James Cromwell (as Ogden Phipps), one of those
actors whose face you know from many films but never receives the credit he
deserves. Scott Glenn portrays Chris
Chenery, another actor we all love, who is normally so kind and compassionate
in his roles. There is one actor I’m
leaving out, as this person deserves a separate paragraph for delivering such
an amazing performance.
This is
directed by Randall Wallace, who also gave us 2002’s We Were Soldiers and 1998’s The
Man in the Iron Mask. He has not had
the opportunity to direct many films, and although he may be no Joss Whedon, he
is certainly a talented individual.
Hopefully he will have the chance to direct more films based on true
stories, as they may prove worthy as this one is.
The music
in the film is also quite beautiful, some of which was written by director
Wallace himself. “It’s Not How Fast,
It’s Not How Far” and “I Am Free” are both brilliantly written songs for this
film which added to its sincerity throughout.
Remember
my mentioning someone being in this film who deserved a separate paragraph due
to their performance? This honor belongs
to the one and only John Malkovich. As I
like to do, I saved the best for last, who was my favorite character of the
entire film. Malkovich’s line delivery
is, as always, out of this world. We saw
him recently in 2011’s Transformers: Dark
of the Moon; he also portrayed Humma Kavula in 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a recently reviewed Disney
Film Project film. Despite fantastic
performances in these films in addition to countless others (many of which
require parental guidance), his role as Lucien Laurin was top notch.
This was
the first time I had ever seen Secretariat,
and I was honestly putting it off because animal films normally make me
cry. Although I did get choked up during
various scenes, a sob fest was not to be had.
In fact, laughter took over more so than tears. This is an absolute must-see for the entire
family. Everyone will enjoy this as it
has a wonderful cast, superb acting, and a solid storyline. I’m seriously considering purchasing this on
DVD. I feel blessed to have had the
opportunity to see this fantastic film!
My Rating:
4.5/5
You never know how far you can run
unless you run.
Nice post.
ReplyDelete