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Viggo Mortensen
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I am a great fan of Native American cultures, and was quite interested in seeing this adaptation of a "true story". It tells how Frank Hopkins takes his authentic Mustang horse out to the middle east to compete in a 3,000 mile race. Along the way, Frank himself learns to come to terms with his mixed heritage.
Viggo doesn't seem to have stretched far from Aragorn for this role. He plays a loner who enjoys the wilderness. True, his knack for languages is well displayed as he speaks Sioux. But other than that, he is like a postal rider - he simply plows ahead until he reaches his goal. He doesn't get much chance in this movie to grow, or mature, or even say much of anything.
I was thrilled by the support for the Native Americans in this movie and the discussion of how half breeds were often looked down upon. My own family has Native American blood in it and it always saddens me when older relatives of mine are uncomfortable with this thought. But the references were almost throw-away ones plunked in to support the plot. And on the other hand, the movie goes straight after the Arab culture and promotes a ton of untrue myths about them! So it almost undoes all the good it is trying to do. Promoting one culture should never come at the expense of another one. Yes, the overt message is that "prejudice is bad". But there's a saying - you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? To give the anti-prejudice message while promoting stereotypes is pretty ironic.
As much as they say this is a true story, apparently the only true part is that there was a man named Frank Hopkins. Research into just about any other aspect of his character or races he said he participated in have found his stories to be false. I wish they had just billed this as a fun adventure movie without claiming it was true, when few historians believe it to be true.
But let's just take this movie as a wild epic horseride, with no need for stirring drama or historic authenticity. I *love* epic movies, especially sweeping action films in interesting locations. So I really did enjoy the scenery of the movie, the scenes of sandstorms chasing down the horses, the great swordfights. I realize that a lot of these things are not logically realistic, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief.
But even there, I personally enjoy epics that have more of a mental challenge to them. I love Lawrence of Arabia, the Indiana Jones stories, movies with plot and intrigue. I'm not sure if it was because this was made by Disney and was geared towards young kids and young teens, but there wasn't much bite to the story. I don't need violence or sex. But I like a good, rich storyline with purpose and meaning. I just didn't find much of it there, so all of the special effects, while stunning, didn't really grab me.
I just think, if they were going to do a story about a half-breed coming from a troubled past where US troops were harassing Native Americans - and going to a purebred race run by Arabs who were against the US - that there was a HUGE wealth of material from which to weave a stunning story. I feel a bit let down that they did not do that.
As a final note, the word Hidalgo is Spanish and means Nobleman. So the horse was a hidden gem, one that shone when given the opportunity.
Buy Hidalgo from Amazon.com
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