Back Allie Productions, Cedar Creek Productions, Motto Pictures
Buck Brannaman, Robert Redford
Buck Brannaman was the inspiration for “The Horse Whisperer”. This is a documentary about the real thing. He is shown to be a complex figure in this Sundance Audience Award winner for Best Documentary by Cindy Meehl. Buck had a horrible childhood, but through his experiences with an abusive father, he became aware that people who treat horses badly to “break” them are just as cruel. His attitude has always been one of mutual respect with love and gentleness to work together with the animal. We humans are putting them in a strange situation and expecting them to trust us. We should learn to give them a chance to learn trust and mutual respect, and the results are much better. He also learns that the methods of dealing with horses can be a mirror to how we treat our fellow human beings.
This documentary is very touching and quite interesting. Buck is an amazing person who has been offering seminars on horse training for years. His methods are sound and work well. We watch him at work, and see his wisdom first hand. I really enjoyed this documentary and seeing Buck at work. Although not a horse person myself, I was fascinated by the way he treats the animals and the success he has. Very much like Caesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer from Discovery Channel, Buck often finds that he’s not teaching the horse, he’s teaching the human. We can learn a lot from Buck even if we never get close to a horse. I highly recommend this film to those who like documentary films. It’s a very good documentary and interesting from start to end. The deleted scenes on the disk are also very good and could certainly be included in the film.
There is one part where Buck is very harsh with one of his clients. In the deleted scenes, it shows how he talked to her later and soothed her feelings. Without this scene, Buck looked a bit like a jerk in that scene. I’m glad I saw the rest of the scene. Also, there is a scene in the movie where Robert Redford talks about Buck and his horse on the set of “The Horse Whisperer”. This is really funny, and shows how Buck is the real deal and his horse showed up the horse actors tremendously. Watch for that.
Buck is a great documentary. One of the best I’ve seen this year, and well worth watching.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
