This movie is a biography of a horse named "Spirit." We watch him from the time he's born, until he takes leadership over of a heard of wild horses. The area these horses roam seems to be the entire western half of the United States, from Arizona to the Pacific Northwest. Spirit and his extended family greatly enjoy the wide open spaces, even though dangers in the form of mountain lions may lurk around the next boulder.
But as dangerous as a mountain lion can be, it pales in comparison to white men. Spirit, who is a living symbol of freedom, carelessly walks into a camp of sleeping cavalry soldiers, and finds himself captured. The soldiers and cavalry are symbols of discipline, hardship, and a type of slavery. As anyone who's ever served in the armed forces knows you don't have the freedom to do as you like when under military authority. Even some the constitutional protections civilians take for granted are out-of-bounds for a serviceman.
Spirit is taken to the soldier's fort, and is quite literally tied up. The fort is symbolic of prison, and is portrayed as a type of concentration camp for wild horses. Spirit does demonstrate quite a bit of spirit and independent thinking the entire time he's captive, to the dismay of the colonel in charge. So the colonel attempts to do to the horse what the military does to every single man that joins it's ranks: he tries to break him down.
At the same time Spirit is being held in the fort, a young native American is brought inside and tied to a post. His only crime: being a young, free brave. The native American, much like Spirit, is also symbolic of freedom. So it's no surprise when the young man cuts himself loose from his ropes, and storms out of the fort in the company of the horse. On their way out, Spirit makes a point of "freeing" all the cavalry horses, making for one major jail break.
But Spirit still does not get to enjoy the freedom he once knew, for now the young Lakota takes him captive, and puts him in a coral near the tribal camp! But their is a profound difference between the captivity of the U.S. Army, and the captivity of the Lakota. The young brave, named "Little Creek," uses love, kindness and generosity to "break" Spirit of his wild ways, even using his own female horse to help persuade him. Yet whether it's the Army's harsh, violent ways, or the gentle, loving ways of the Lakota, Spirit refuses to give in, preferring his freedom above and beyond anything that man can do for him.
The animators at DreamWorks have their work cut out for them in this film, taking an abstract concept like freedom and creating a wild horse to embody that trait. This is a difficult trick to pull off with educated adults, and even more difficult with young children. But they do put in a good effort, and those who are used to symbolism and types will be able to see the point of this film without looking too hard.
Spirit's love and commitment to freedom is most plainly evident in a scene where Spirit destroys a railroad camp. The "sin" committed by the railroaders which causes Spirit to fume with righteous anger is their use him as a part of a very large team of horses to pull a steam engine up a mountain. Spirit decides he's had enough hard labor for one day, and feigns sickness to get released from the team. He then recovers quickly after being unhitched, and proceeds to act in a way that causes the destruction of the locomotive being hauled up the mountain, along with one sitting on the tracks below, along with the ENTIRE railroad camp at the bottom of the mountain, along with the forest surrounding the railroad camp. The punishment levied against the railroaders is quite drastic and very violent, and goes so far as to make Spirit look like almost like a villain. Yet, a small price to pay in the name of freedom.
The animators do a fantastic job with the visuals, especially where nature and wildlife are concerned. There is a scene in the movie where Spirit has a race with a bald eagle that had me in mouth-gaping awe. Very well done. The movie is truly a feast for the eyes, if not also a famine for the brain.
In the end, this is a movie that demonstrates that freedom IS something worth fighting for. Whether it's a railroad, the cavalry, or a friendly tribe of natives, slavery and servitude is not preferable to living the life of freedom. Sadly, while this film does a fine job demonstrating the need to fight to maintain freedom, it doesn't touch on the fact of the responsibility one has to oneself and others when free --for there is a strange paradox in that as one's freedom increases, so does ones responsibilities. In other words, you can never be free from responsibility, especially when you're free! Think about it.
While one can be upset at the constant negative portrayal of white men in this film, truth be told white men did, in FACT, do a great deal of harm to native Americans of ALL tribes. While their were certainly some violent, warlike tribes that received their just deserts, there were also many peace loving tribes that were exploited and manipulated for evil purposes, mostly by white males. It is a sad fact of history, and one I do want my children to make note of.
Overall, I applaud the message implied in this film of the overriding importance of freedom, even if it means the destruction of innocent railroad employees and the demonizing of white males.
Rating: 6/10
But as dangerous as a mountain lion can be, it pales in comparison to white men. Spirit, who is a living symbol of freedom, carelessly walks into a camp of sleeping cavalry soldiers, and finds himself captured. The soldiers and cavalry are symbols of discipline, hardship, and a type of slavery. As anyone who's ever served in the armed forces knows you don't have the freedom to do as you like when under military authority. Even some the constitutional protections civilians take for granted are out-of-bounds for a serviceman.
Spirit is taken to the soldier's fort, and is quite literally tied up. The fort is symbolic of prison, and is portrayed as a type of concentration camp for wild horses. Spirit does demonstrate quite a bit of spirit and independent thinking the entire time he's captive, to the dismay of the colonel in charge. So the colonel attempts to do to the horse what the military does to every single man that joins it's ranks: he tries to break him down.
At the same time Spirit is being held in the fort, a young native American is brought inside and tied to a post. His only crime: being a young, free brave. The native American, much like Spirit, is also symbolic of freedom. So it's no surprise when the young man cuts himself loose from his ropes, and storms out of the fort in the company of the horse. On their way out, Spirit makes a point of "freeing" all the cavalry horses, making for one major jail break.
But Spirit still does not get to enjoy the freedom he once knew, for now the young Lakota takes him captive, and puts him in a coral near the tribal camp! But their is a profound difference between the captivity of the U.S. Army, and the captivity of the Lakota. The young brave, named "Little Creek," uses love, kindness and generosity to "break" Spirit of his wild ways, even using his own female horse to help persuade him. Yet whether it's the Army's harsh, violent ways, or the gentle, loving ways of the Lakota, Spirit refuses to give in, preferring his freedom above and beyond anything that man can do for him.
The animators at DreamWorks have their work cut out for them in this film, taking an abstract concept like freedom and creating a wild horse to embody that trait. This is a difficult trick to pull off with educated adults, and even more difficult with young children. But they do put in a good effort, and those who are used to symbolism and types will be able to see the point of this film without looking too hard.
Spirit's love and commitment to freedom is most plainly evident in a scene where Spirit destroys a railroad camp. The "sin" committed by the railroaders which causes Spirit to fume with righteous anger is their use him as a part of a very large team of horses to pull a steam engine up a mountain. Spirit decides he's had enough hard labor for one day, and feigns sickness to get released from the team. He then recovers quickly after being unhitched, and proceeds to act in a way that causes the destruction of the locomotive being hauled up the mountain, along with one sitting on the tracks below, along with the ENTIRE railroad camp at the bottom of the mountain, along with the forest surrounding the railroad camp. The punishment levied against the railroaders is quite drastic and very violent, and goes so far as to make Spirit look like almost like a villain. Yet, a small price to pay in the name of freedom.
The animators do a fantastic job with the visuals, especially where nature and wildlife are concerned. There is a scene in the movie where Spirit has a race with a bald eagle that had me in mouth-gaping awe. Very well done. The movie is truly a feast for the eyes, if not also a famine for the brain.
In the end, this is a movie that demonstrates that freedom IS something worth fighting for. Whether it's a railroad, the cavalry, or a friendly tribe of natives, slavery and servitude is not preferable to living the life of freedom. Sadly, while this film does a fine job demonstrating the need to fight to maintain freedom, it doesn't touch on the fact of the responsibility one has to oneself and others when free --for there is a strange paradox in that as one's freedom increases, so does ones responsibilities. In other words, you can never be free from responsibility, especially when you're free! Think about it.
While one can be upset at the constant negative portrayal of white men in this film, truth be told white men did, in FACT, do a great deal of harm to native Americans of ALL tribes. While their were certainly some violent, warlike tribes that received their just deserts, there were also many peace loving tribes that were exploited and manipulated for evil purposes, mostly by white males. It is a sad fact of history, and one I do want my children to make note of.
Overall, I applaud the message implied in this film of the overriding importance of freedom, even if it means the destruction of innocent railroad employees and the demonizing of white males.
Rating: 6/10