Secretariat

Movies about horses are ones that are typically not always my cup of tea. While I love sports movies and many will say a horse racing movie should be a film that I should be excited to see from the get go. Secretariat focuses around a housewife who after her mother's death goes back to her family horse farm in Virginia for the funeral, only to end up using her bullheadedness and determination to become successful in a male dominated world of horse racing. Having seen this movie it will do down in my movie history as probably the best horse movie.

Diane Lane stars as Penny Chenery a strong housewife who is able to compete with the men in the horse racing world. Although I think it really helped Lane's portrayal to be so strong because the real Penny Chenery was so amazingly strong in real life. There are not many women out there in the world during that time period who would have been willing to make such sacrifices and risks. The gamble she made to save the farm is unheard of and had she been wrong the cost would have created financial ruin not only for her and her family but her brother's family as well. John Malkovich plays Lucien Laurin the outlandishly dressed trainer of Secretariat. Like almost all of the roles I have seen Malkovich in he plays the kooky, on the edge of slight insanity perfectly. Malkovich's interactions with not only Lane's character, but the assistant to the family make for some of the funniest interactions and lines in the movie. The rest of the supporting cast give fine performances and really help to support Lane and Malkovich.

Of course the real star of the movie is Big Red or Secretariat as was his official racing name. The story of Secretariat is truly a powerful one. There has never been a horse that has dominated horse racing the way Secretariat did and with all the advances that have taken place in medicine and technology we will probably never see a horse dominate that way again. The cinematography throughout the movie does a great job at truly showing this dominance. Throughout the movie the moments of slow motion are done perfectly , showing all the power and strength a horse has in its legs. Seeing the movement of the muscles and how defined they are is stunning to watch and really made for great sequences.

Secretariat exceeded my expectations as I was not expecting this horse racing movie to be up my alley. The acting in the movie ends up being very strong while at the same time it was really cool to watch the horses in the racing sequences, from the cinematography to even the simple sounds of the horses breathing before and during the races. I am giving Secretariat four buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that is definitely worth your time.

-The Movie Man