 |
|||
 |
 |
||
 | |||
 | |||||||||||
|
|
A Buena Vista release. Written by John Fusco, directed by Joe Johnston; starring Viggo Mortenson. Released to DVD on August 3, 2004.  There is one contradiction about Americans that I find simply fascinating. Despite the United States’ presence as the eminent country in the world, most of the American people tend to view themselves as underdogs and overachievers who will succeed more because of their heart than their talent. Whether it’s in athletics, entertainment or academia, the United States seems proudest of its citizens who overachieve. Americans are enchanted by lovable losers like the Chicago Cubs or William Hung, but are positively star-struck by underdogs who go on to achieve phenomenal successes, something neither the Cubs nor Hung can lay claim to. Hollywood has begun to tap into this Cinderella concept in two areas, everyday people who become royalty (The Princess Diaries, Notting Hill and The Prince & Me) and real life, overmatched athletes who go on to victory (Miracle, Against the Ropes and Seabiscuit). The latest installment in the latter Cinderella genre is director Joe Johnston’s Hidalgo. Starring Viggo Mortenson, Hidalgo is the story of a turn of the century mustang of the same name. Ridden by rough-rider Frank Hopkins (Mortenson), Hidalgo is the pride and joy of the American long-distant racing circuit; smaller than most other commercially bred race horses, Hidalgo has endured and succeeded in spite of his long odds. Hopkins and Hidalgo once raced from Galveston, Texas to Rutland, Vermont in 30 days. Hopkins and his fellow racers may also have been the first and only Americans to ever have a need to go from Galveston to Rutland, but the movie does not confirm this. When Arabian sheik Riyadh (Omar Sharif) learns that Hidalgo is being billed as the best long-distance race horse in the world, he is taken aback since Hidalgo has never even competed in the grueling, 3,000 mile race across the Arabian peninsula that is ominously called the Ocean of Fire. Sheik Riyadh sends an emissary to Hopkins and informs him that he has two choices, stop calling Hidalgo the best in the world or enter the race across the Ocean of Fire. The rough riding Hopkins chooses to enter the race. Hidalgo is a movie that would have seemed right at home during the thirties and forties. It is not that much of a stretch to suggest that this film could be looked upon as Indiana Jones Enters a Horse Race. Reminiscent of the serials from which Indiana’s adventures were born, Hidalgo employs many of the same principles and rules here. The good guys never miss a shot and the bad guys can’t buy a break; the good looking women are strangely attracted to the motley, down-on-his-luck lead and the men with the fame, fortune and supreme etiquette are sneered upon by all the film’s characters.  It’s a comfortable setting to be sure and Johnston does his best to make sure that nothing remotely edgy or R-rated makes it close to the final cut of Hidalgo; why tinker with a tried-and-true formula? However, unlike any of the Indiana Jones movies and even Stephen Sommers’ more recent Mummy movies, Hidalgo doesn’t have much of a plot to fall back upon; it’s the story of one man who, literally, attempts to go from point A to point B on a horse. And this can be very problematic for a genre of movies that relies heavily on their scripts to keep the audience intrigued. In order to counteract the lack of inherent rising/falling action in Hidalgo’s race plot line, Johnston and screenwriter John Fusco concocted a strange sub-plot involving Hopkins’ attempts to rescue the sheikh’s daughter, who was kidnapped during the course of the race. In and of itself, this was an interesting turn of events–an American cowboy in Arabia working with the most prominent sheikh during the 1890’s–but in the course of Hidalgo, this plot strand is relegated to the back burner in order to pursue more hero shots of Hopkins and Hidalgo digging deep in their souls in an effort to show up their many doubters. In real life, an enormous amount of heart and desire doesn’t instantly create a supreme talent (look no further than basketball players Fred Hoiberg and Brian Scalabrine to grasp this concept). Unfortunately, some amount of natural ability and athleticism is necessary to make a person a sports star, a fact that effectively deals a dashing blow to my own NBA aspirations. This fact is often forgotten or purposely avoided in movies like Hidalgo because inspirational films aren’t as inspirational when it becomes obvious that talent trumps heart. And this is something Johnston seems willing to concede. I enjoyed Hidalgo for its glossy, sweeping portrayal of the Arabian sub-continent and the romanticized nature of America’s wild, wild west the film adopted, but am hard pressed to consider this movie to be anywhere near the same league as its serial predecessors.
chris neumer yes, it's true: Despite the fact that Iraq wasn't a country until 1920, some 25 years after Hidalgo takes place, it is mentioned no less than three times in this movie. |
| |||||
