Waves Summer 2004 Newsletter

May, 2004

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The Popcorn and Candy Stand

Hidalgo: A Movie Review by Sharon Robbins

Rating:

(2 halos)
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Omar Sharif, Louise Lombard, Saïd Taghmaoui, Adam Alexi-Malle, Peter Mensah, J.K. Simmons, Malcolm McDowell

Directed by: Joe Johnston

As a reviewer I give this movie two out of four halos because of the insensitivity toward Native American issues throughout the movie.

Children ages 1-10: too long, many complicated confusing issues dealing with sexuality.
Children ages 11: with parental direction.

Hidalgo is a movie about a mustang, Hidalgo, and his owner, Frank Hopkins, who purportedly was known for regularly participating in and winning long-distance, cross country horse races.

Hidalgo’s owner was a legend himself. Frank Hopkins, played by Viggo Mortensen, was a Lakota Indian who found himself separated from his true calling as a Lakota. Hopkins is portrayed as an Indian who has been swept away by the glib western white culture. Hopkins is not dominated by the culture, but he finds himself becoming more and more enamored of it as he reaches out and embraces parts of the culture for himself. He thus finds himself spiritually marooned from his Lakota upbringing in a predominately European white culture.

In the movie, Hopkins makes a reference to the fact that he has released his former Indian self. When an overseas Arab friend enamored of the Wild West excitedly asks – “How many Indians have you killed?” Frank answers quietly, “Only one -- many years ago.”

Let’s not forget the hero of the story -- Hidalgo, a beautiful, powerful mustang descended from the first horses brought here by the Spaniards in the 1400s. Throughout the movie there are hints that the mustang in general is doomed. Destined for the slaughterhouse, the mustang was a small build horse not recognized as a true racehorse. Entering the “Ocean of Fire” race itself draws protests like, “How dare someone enter a mustang to race against thoroughbreds?” Hopkins is unfazed by the protest. Throughout the movie Hidalgo and Hopkins communicate in a language all their own.

The movie opens with a theme set in the early Wild West. Throughout the movie Hopkins helps his Lakota people when he can. Offering to be a translator for his chief when bargaining with Buffalo Bill in the beginning of the movie, Hopkins mourns the loss of his brethren in Wounded Knee. Wounded Knee is portrayed as a simple misunderstanding between two races having trouble communicating in a meaningful way -- something most indigenous people may take great exception to.

FHopkins seeks the chief’s wisdom when he needs direction about entering the Ocean of Fire. The chief points out how Hopkins is in fact searching for himself in these adventures. Throughout the movie, you can’t miss Mortensen’s subtle development of Hopkins’ character. Mortensen (hero Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) does an outstanding job demonstrating a wise, steadfast character deeply committed to being faithful to himself and his own unique spirituality, heroically choosing to do the right thing even in a culture alien to his upbringing where the rules are all different.

The movie demonstrates to a small degree the pain of being Native American in a land dominated by an indifferent and uncaring society. The Wild Buffalo Bill Show was portrayed many times from the storytellers’ perspective, including that of Annie Oakley, who purportedly was a friend of Hopkins. Oakley is oftentimes found picking up a depressed, drunk, and disheveled Hopkins, recently thrown from a horse, and encouraging him to resist drink. The horse, not to be forgotten, is amusing in the way it looks after Hopkins and picks up his hat, as is Oakley, who also recruits the $1,000 in silver coins to encourage Frank to enter the Ocean of Fire.

Hidalgo is an engaging thriller that encompasses the fun of being overseas with many cutthroats who stop at nothing to win the race, including a rich and somewhat seductive Englishwoman who tries to lure Hopkins away from his goal of winning the race and a sheik, convincingly portrayed by Omar Sharif, who throws many obstacles in Hopkins’ way toward the same end. A young princess is kidnapped by a band of Arab thieves, and our hero saves her and safely returns to her father. Throughout the movie, Hopkins as depicted by Mortensen proves that ‘slow and steady wins the race’, thereby demonstrating that the proverbial tortoise was right.

In the end, Hopkins honors the brave mustang that won the treacherous Ocean of Fire by releasing it back into the wild with a herd he recently saved from the slaughterhouse. The ending is very touching indeed. Hidalgo moves quickly, and at the end you’ll find you’ve watched a three-hour-plus movie with little regard for time.