I was drawn to this film after having watched director Albert Lamorisse's "The Red Balloon, a whimsical tale of a young lad's friendly relationship with an inanimate object. So I was already predisposed to another film with exceptional cinematography and distinctive imagery. There is no doubt that the filming is gorgeous, a high contrast black and white palette that sets off the stunning scenery of the Camargue, a marshland ares of southern France that borders the Mediterranean. The story is actually quite similar to that of Walter Farley's Black Stallion, both the novel and the film adaptation. A young boy admires a stallion in the wild and wishes to befriend the regal animal, even as herdsmen in the region attempt to capture it and perhaps do it bodily harm.
Observing the story objectively, there's a lot here that's disturbing, notwithstanding the young boy Falco's (Alain Emery) fascination and loving relationship with 'White Mane'. The fight between White Mane and the new leader of the herd is rather brutal, one can actually see White Mane biting into the flesh of it's opponent, and those violent kicks would certainly be enough to kill a human. That would probably be something too intense for a young child to watch, and while I thought the rabbit chase was a pleasantly humorous diversion, I had to do a double take when that same rabbit was observed somewhat later, skinned and roasting on a spit, on tap for Falco's luncheon menu. Not that it bothered me personally, but how would you explain that scene to a six year old?
But the thing that rather upset me was the conclusion of the film. Although the imagery in the closing scene suggests that Falco and White Mane have discovered a new found freedom having escaped the rabid herdsmen, if one is of rational mind extending the scene to it's ultimate conclusion, one would have to consider that both drowned in the turbulent waves of the Mediterranean. I hate to be a downer here with my analysis, but what else is one to expect? Otherwise though, it was a beautiful film.
Observing the story objectively, there's a lot here that's disturbing, notwithstanding the young boy Falco's (Alain Emery) fascination and loving relationship with 'White Mane'. The fight between White Mane and the new leader of the herd is rather brutal, one can actually see White Mane biting into the flesh of it's opponent, and those violent kicks would certainly be enough to kill a human. That would probably be something too intense for a young child to watch, and while I thought the rabbit chase was a pleasantly humorous diversion, I had to do a double take when that same rabbit was observed somewhat later, skinned and roasting on a spit, on tap for Falco's luncheon menu. Not that it bothered me personally, but how would you explain that scene to a six year old?
But the thing that rather upset me was the conclusion of the film. Although the imagery in the closing scene suggests that Falco and White Mane have discovered a new found freedom having escaped the rabid herdsmen, if one is of rational mind extending the scene to it's ultimate conclusion, one would have to consider that both drowned in the turbulent waves of the Mediterranean. I hate to be a downer here with my analysis, but what else is one to expect? Otherwise though, it was a beautiful film.