The Horse Whisperer.
“I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake.” (J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye)
To train a horse used to mean break its spirit, to make it a loyal subordinate to a human. This required using extreme force until the horse’s spirit was conquered. Such inhumane cruelty is sickening, but it used to be the norm so that a horse could be tamed.
Buck Brannaman doesn’t use force to make a horse submissive. He’s one of the original horse whisperers, and his occupation inspired the Nicholas Sparks novel that would become the Robert Redford film. Brannaman was even an on-set consultant during production.
Buck is described as a Zen master when it comes to communicating with horses, but the focus of Cindy Meehl’s documentary is not on his techniques or his life as a horse whisperer per se. It’s far more reaching than a simple presentation of training and riding horses. Buck is a film about how to conduct your life and how to live. Buck says early on that “a lot of the time, instead of helping people with horse problems, I’m helping horses with people problems.” You may give a slight chuckle at the notion until you see what Buck means.
At the tender age of four, Buck was a rodeo star. Paired with his older brother, Bill, the two performed rope tricks blindfolded as “Buckshot and Smokie.” Performing in front of audiences on stage and at rodeos, they would eventually become the talk of the school appearing in commercials for Sugar Pops cereal. They were well-trained in the art of trick-roping but not perfect. If either flubbed a routine their alcoholic father, Ace, beat them. Even if they didn’t flub they were beaten. That’s how Ace was brought up, so he makes sure his sons experience a similar fate.
The pain and suffering Buck felt at the hands of his father bares resemblance to the older approach of training horses. Buck would buck this trend, however, thanks to the tutelage of horse trainers Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt. He would never come at a horse with force, in a threatening manner. If only his father could have been as gentle and compassionate.
Traveling across America nine months out of the year, Buck conducts four-day long horse-riding clinics. It is during his instruction that Cindy Meehl paints a portrait of a man who is at peace with his life, having understood what it means to have your childhood taken away. Able to rise above the hardships and not let it be an anchor weighing him down, Buck is able to empathize with equines on an almost telepathic level. He knows how they interpret simple gestures of the hand. He understands them. Which is why he is referred to as a “horse whisperer.” In an aside Robert Redford relays a story from the set of The Horse Whisperer on how Brannaman saved a scene. A day’s worth of production was wasted in having a horse move toward Scarlett Johansson’s character. The next day, they did the scene with Brannaman’s horse and it took less than an hour.
Buck is an inspiring documentary not because of Brannaman as a horse trainer but because of his compassion. Near the end is a scene where Buck is working with a dangerous stud. The horse’s mother died during the birthing and the horse was oxygen deprived for several minutes. Revived, its owner raised the fowl inside the house. As great a horse whisperer Buck is he’s not a miracle worker. An afternoon session isn’t enough to undo the years of mishandling. Buck is angry with the owner, and you can see how it affects him on emotional level. He knows bad parenting when he sees it.
After one viewing of Buck you can’t help but be inspired. Inspired to be a better person and parent. You admire his goodness, the unconditional love he gives to weak animals. Forget athletes and celebrities, and look to Buck Brannaman as a role model. We all should be that pure in heart.
Director: Cindy Meehl
Featuring: Buck Brannaman, Robert Redford
