Film Review: Secretariat

A few years ago a horse racing picture came out by the name of Seabiscuit. Heard of it? I am sure you have. At the time it was nominated for several academy awards including Best Picture. It really was the epitome for sports drama on film.


Secretariat is told a little differently, of course the time has changed it is now the 70's, we were long out of the depression and at that point life was good. Funny, how we are now in a little depression right now economically. We always look to other things to keep our minds off of things, like movies for example. Just look at Gone with the Wind. Still to this day, adjusted for inflation that film is still the largest grossing picture of all time, even above Titanic. This was because the theatre is were everybody went to to get away from things. We like to feel good, use anything that might make our human spirit rise up and climb that steep wall. This is a film that hits the right spot at the right time.


The film starts out where horse whisperer Penny Chenery, elegantly and gracefully played by Diane Lane, loses her mother. Her entire family heads to her hometown in Virginia. At this point her father whom owns a ranch also has dementia. The ranch is losing business and they are in quite the amount of debt. Sound familiar? She makes a decision to try and keep the ranch and finds a horse trainer by the name of Lucien Laurin, played by a brilliant John Malcovich to take on the task. At a somewhat lucky toss of a coin, Penny gets the new born Colt, Big Red also known as Secretariat. Through hard work and major obstacles the horse is ready to compete. Dealing with the downside of having a long distance relationship with her family along with breaking the bank so to speak, Penny has everything riding on ole Big Red. She fights for the respect of her workers and never gives up hope, hope that would eventually turn into something grand. Secretariat was not considered a front runner and there were a lot of skeptics. Through adversity of his own, Secretariat was his own spirit, a spirit that had its obstacles, a spirit that wanted to be heard. In the end of it all, everybody heard it.


A warm filled story with great performances and extravagant camera work, Secretariat will have you cheering along the ride. Why? Because, we all want a winner, we all want something to believe in and we all want to mount that steep wall. 


Grade: A-