Hidalgo (USA, 2004)

I was looking forward to this movie based on the previews and because I like Viggo Mortensen and Omar Sharif. However I found the movie too cheesy. The desert scenes were not realistic, more like computer animations from the Mommy, the tents were too lavish, I could smell the sound stages in them. A lot more could have been brought out from the story: a US cowboy enters a long distance race with his aging horse to go through the Arabain desert. In the process he has to fight against enemies, find new friends, show solidarity, return to his ancestral spirits … My friend, with whom I seen the movie had even stronger criticism about the movie. She can’t stand when people are cruel to animals, who cannot defend themselves or make decisions. In that respect they are unlike humans so they deserve more care and protection. But here in her opinion the horses were treated extremely bad, by forcing them to suffer through this excruciating race. I have to admit she is right and I emphasize with her sentiments, however while watching the movie I didn’t realize myself this aspect.