White Mane (Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage)
Directed by Albert Lamorisse
Written by Albert Lamorisse and Denys Colomb de Daunant; English narration by James Agee
1953/USA
Films Montsouris
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] There is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should forever exempt him from indignities. — Herman Melville [/box]
If you love horses or beautiful cinematography this short film is a must see.
The film is almost dialogue free with a voice-over narration. The story is set in Southern France where herds of wild horses still roam. A beautiful stallion named White Mane is the leader of his particular group. He does not like people and can get pretty violent in his efforts to escape them. This only makes a group of local horsemen covet him more. He is also admired by a boy of maybe 10 or 12. The men finally catch him but he escapes.
The boy lives with his grandfather and small sister. He fishes in the local marshes. A flamingo lives with the family and eats out of the boy’s hand. The boy extracts a promise from the leader of the men that if he can catch White Mane he will be the boy’s. It isn’t easy but the boy finally captures the horse and makes friends with it. But that is not the end of the tale.
I love LaMorrisse’s The Red Balloon and this is only more beautiful. It is a fine way to spend forty minutes and highly recommended.
Montage of clips – DVD print quality is far superior
