Review of White Mane (1953) by Brett C — 02 Jul 2016

Review In A Nutshell:

After being underwhelmed by Albert Lamorisse's The Red Balloon, I really didn't know whether or not this one would appeal to me; it also didn't help that out of the two films, this is the lesser regarded one. 40 minutes after popping the disc in, I was impressed with what it had to offer. It's execution of the film's simple story is much less sentimental as compared to The Red Balloon, and that is one of the reasons why this film worked so much with me. White Mane doesn't dampen the connection between the horse and the boy with forced tear-jerking emotions; instead it visually captures it in an authentic and ambiguous light. The film's climax, I felt, could have been improved with a bit more intensity but thankfully its melancholy conclusion nearly forgave the lacklustre event that preceded it. The film doesn't spend all of its time on the relationship between the horse and the boy, as other times the film shows the audience other aspects of the horse's environment, like physical confrontation in order to determine who is the more dominant animal and the idea of rescuing your fellow species and ensuring they can keep their freedom, the film was able to go through all of this in a matter of 40 minutes. Though visually ambiguous, White Mane features a reliable narrator that provides enough internal detail of the characters to gain a minimal understanding on what the director is trying to project. White Mane with its minor issues, prevent it from being perfect but it does enough to impress, and done so within a short amount of time. If one wasn't impressed with Lamorisse's take on The Red Balloon, then definitely give this one a try as it might prove more valuable.