I haven't watched many French films up until now, but this one might be enough to make me change my habits. White Mane is a quite short but expertly told story about a young boy and a horse whom he trusts with his life, even though the horse doesn't trust him (initially). It begins by showing a bunch of horses that live in a southern French marsh area. The most visually striking horse there, White Mane, is so named because he has the most impressive mane out of all the horses. A boy named Folco (Alain Emery), who's something of a fisherman, takes a small boat down a body of water in order to get a better look at White Mane, but some ranchers on horseback get to him first. They put him in a confined area, but White Mane, being a wild horse, doesn't like being contained. He breaks out, and while the ranchers are trying to chase him again, Folco speaks to one. The guy simply tells him he has a better chance of his fish learning to fly than ever catching that horse. As it turns out though, Folco does eventually try to lasso White Mane as the horse runs through several hundred feet of marshlands. Folco manages to hold on, and the horse stops running because he now trusts Folco completely. When White Mane later faces off against another horse from earlier in what looks like a rodeo arena, he loses. This leads to White Mane going back to Folco, with the latter noticing the ranchers have come back for his horse. They do something gravely immoral and burn the plant-filled area he and the other horses graze in. Folco journeys into this area while it burns, mounts White Mane, and rides him while the ranchers chase them both. At last, Folco comes to a dead end, with only the sea in front of him. The ranchers attempt to block his means of escape, but Folco would rather take his horse into the ocean than let him be caught. They jump into the strong current together, and as both the horse and the boy are carried away by the unforgiving waves, they're presumed dead. At least Folco has his horse forever now. This film was quite well made. I would say it's pretty unknown, with the entire thing being made in french, but even if you saw this without subtitles, it wouldn't be any less moving. It's a timeless story about how devoted an animal can be to a person, and vice versa. It's been said that a dog will die for its owner if necessary, but surely there are other animals that will make such a decision, and horses are probably one of them. After all, they've been used in warfare for centuries. They and humans ride and fight together. I thought it was interesting to find out how the Camargue region of france (where this was filmed) actually has a history of extremely formidable horses living there, and they're more agile and tough compared to normal ones. Overall, this film was a pleasure to discover on TCM one day, since the channel has a great track record of picking out really worthwhile films from distant time periods. No matter how obscure it is, if it's something that has stood the test of time, they will put it on the air.
Review of White Mane
