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by Frank Wilkins
Like the feisty equine of the same name, Seabiscuit is this summer's long shot to make an impact on moviegoers. With an imposing list of competitors that includes 3-D gaming whiz kids, Kung Fu fighting angels and a plethora of comic book characters, Seabiscuit provides a much needed inspirational lift to an otherwise uninspired season of budget-busting duds.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Laura Hillenbrand, Gary Ross' screenplay of Seabiscuit equates the hardships of the horse, his owner, his rider and his trainer to the effect that the Great Depression was having on Americans during the 1930s. At a time when a significant portion of the country was unemployed and destitute, an overlooked and undersized horse captured the nation's attention and, if only for a while, gave everyone hope again. Although on the surface it appears to be just another root-for-the-underdog sports drama, Seabiscuit reaches further and achieves more, putting it more on the level of Hoosiers than For Love of the Game.

Standing as one of the film's strongest suits, its outstanding cast is headed by Jeff Bridges as Charles Howard, Seabiscuit's soft-hearted but stubborn owner who rose from the ashes of a devastating divorce and the loss of his only son, to become the reluctant owner of one of the most famous racehorses in American history. Howard marries a young woman named Marcela (Elizabeth Banks) who introduces him to the world of thoroughbred horse racing. In short order Howard hires an over-the-hill trainer named Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) and an over-sized and nearly blind jockey named Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire) to round out his stable of misfits. Howard's belief that everyone deserves a second chance runs as the compassionate thread throughout the film. When confronted by naysayers, he bristles, "you don't throw a whole life away just because it's banged up a little".

Eventually, trainer Tom Smith's horse-whisperer-like intuitions begin to pay off. Before long, Seabiscuit begins winning races and setting track records, all the while, gaining the adoration of a beaten-down America looking for a distraction.

Director Gary Ross spends the first half of the movie introducing us to the characters in a deliberately calculated but artful series of scenes. Ross seamlessly breaks the flow of the character introductions with heartbreaking vignettes of depression-era footage and voiceover narration that puts Seabiscuit's legend into a social context. We are given an enlightening understanding of the mindset of America and how Seabiscuit's accomplishments were woven into the fabric of the nation.

Horse racing action, that crescendos with the heralded "race-of-the-century" pitting Seabiscuit against 1938's Triple Crown Winner and much more physically imposing War Admiral, dominates the second half of the movie. Ross puts us in the middle of the action as the camera weaves through the rippling muscles, the sweat covered flesh and the flaring nostrils of the thundering thoroughbreds. We get a frighteningly authentic sense of the power and danger endured by these diminutive jockeys on an almost daily basis.

Seabiscuit is an emotionally uplifting story that might seem implausible were it not for the fact that it really happened. Some small details have been embellished, but the sentimental impact is genuine. We humans were mostly responsible for the events that lead to the Great Depression, but it took an animal to teach three men, if not a whole nation how to feel good about themselves.

Frank Wilkins


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