Hope and triumph the face of adversity. One of the most common themes in life and the movies. Be it a movie like “In the pursuit of happyness” or “Life is beautiful”, or “SeaBiscuit”.
I watched the movie quite by accident one night, when my morale was particularly low. I found it as I rummaged through my DVD drawer hoping to see a mindless flick to numb my senses.
The backdrop of the movie is the Great Depression. It is a true story set in a time when the great American dream had gone bust.
It’s a story of friendship and of a journey through despair, faith and finally the thrill of winning it all. The story intertwines three characters all impacted by the depression.
Red Pollard; the jockey. His love for horses proves to be the factor that separates him from his parents. His once wealthy father leaves him with a horse groomer. He eventually becomes a jockey who never wins, survives by getting bashed up in illegal boxing matches.
Charles Howard; the horse owner is the largest car dealer in California and one of the Bay Area's richest men. He is battling depression over losing his only son in an accident followed by a divorce. He meets young Marcella who introduces him to horses, and marries her.
Tom Smith; as the horse trainer. He is rendered homeless by the depression, and lives like a nomad. He is wonderful with horses, and Charles sees him tame a wild horse with ease.
The movie unfolds seamlessly from their individual stories to the way they meet, and finally find a common goal to work towards.
The movie unfolds seamlessly from their individual stories to the way they meet, and finally find a common goal to work towards.
The scene where Tom Smith sees Seabiscuit for the first time is beautiful. Or the scene where he selects Red as the jockey, seeing the similarities between them, and knows that he has found his jockey.
The film takes you from thereon to a roller coaster ride, through the early wins, and the losses, the challenge to beat another champion horse, the fall just before the victory and the ecstasy of the final battle won.
What makes the film special and heart rending are the dialogues, the subtle bonding between the three characters, and of course the horse, who rescues them all. You don’t see a horse owner, a jockey and a horse trainer. You see three people put behind their troublesome past. You see three people fight back and find new dreams.
It’s a glowing example of how one can defy myths, and still do the impossible. Like Charles Howard says, “The jockey’s too big, the horse too small, the trainer too old, and I’m too dumb to know the difference.
Its best summed up by Red Pollard in the end when he says, “You know, everybody thinks we found this broken-down horse and fixed him, but we didn't. He fixed us. Every one of us. And I guess in a way we kinda fixed each other too.”
I’m glad Seabiscuit stumbled onto my hand on that dreary night. I was wrong when I thought that this movie would give me the hope to move through my troubles. Instead, it gave me the will to fight.
Seabiscuit, you fixed me up good.
