The Silver Brumby

REVIEWS:

It is awfully easy to complain about Russell's lack of screen time in this movie, but at least he is pivotal to the plot and is the most sympathetic villian you are ever likely to encounter. Unless you've seen "Romper Stomper", that is. Amazing how he can inject humanity and vulnerability into any character. (I know, don’t digress. OK, I’m not up to reviewing RS.) The difference here is that the character in Brumby is written sympathetically. I have seen so many movies in which the man chasing the wild horse is mean, evil, wicked, and rotten. This man just really loves horses. You would think that without a name or very much human interaction, the character would be bland or boring. Not bloody likely. His passion and obsession for capturing the wild horse are expressed without words. (And how many times, in more complex movies, have reviewers said exactly the same thing about this actor.) Russell shares a lot more screen time with critters than people and he delivers lines to dogs, horses, and cows as if they were, okay, not quite Al Pacino, but, I had the impression they were paying darn near as much attention to him as the average human actor. He had their attention and mine. The other major character is Australia, the land, the trees, the mountains. The cinematography is magnificent and the landscape is viewed through all seasons and in all weathers. (Hey, it's a Russell Crowe movie, it has to rain on him sometime.) The filmmakers should have gotten a nice stipend from the Australian Tourist Commission. To give you an idea of whether or not you might want to give this movie a go, my friends who liked “Gladiator” thought it was too slow and my friends who liked “Proof” loved it. If you enjoy Russell’s work, you will enjoy it, but you might use the fast forward button a bit. You have my permission.
Rated: five crowes
~jan

Thanks to the Crowe Slide Shows site for the screen captures!