several hours (and some Civil War distraction) later ~

[lookingland]

one script down, four to go (guess i'm sorta dragging, but i'm planning to hammer another two out this evening).

on scarlite's recommendation i got a copy of a made for tv film called The Colt. it's about a young man who loses his brother during the Wilderness battle in 1864 and how he pours all his hope into a colt born after a skirmish shortly thereafter. the movie suffers a bit from being a short story bloated out to make a full length (well, actually fairly short) film (an hour and twenty minutes), but despite its pacing problems, this is a beautiful little sentimental film.

here there may be spoilers!

the nit-picky part of me wants to say it has some minor authencity problems. some costuming issues for certain. and the opening premise ~ oy vey! the movie gets off on a very rocky start: that a cavalryman could be riding a pregnant mare through a war and not know it is ludicrous. it's also not established very well why there's such a fuss about shooting the colt (an order that i find questionable to begin with). also, the line: "they're just horses!" which is shouted at the protagonist while he chases off after a thieving rebel sounds like no words that would ever come out of a cavalryman's mouth.

but that's just me being picky. the truth is, i loved this. it was cornball, but honest, i think. and it had some amazing lines. it's very well written. the scene in which jim breaks down over supper was heart-breaking and i think the ending was exactly right (there have been complaints in the reviews that it's too sad ~ but it has so much more integrity than them all trooping off into a sunshiny future). and holy cow, that moment at the end when the guy throws down his gun and jumps into the water: that's freakin' story-telling platinum right there! am i right??? i nearly cried when covington said: "no sir, this one's for me." (and that's saying something!)

what i love best about this movie is that it does pretty well to avoid the stereotypes and doesn't rely heavily on political rhetoric about the war or name-dropping (a mention of Stuart and Jackson at one point, but mainly it stays focused on the troop).

and it's not about the colt. the colt isn't made to be overtly cute or precious or whimsical or Disney-like. it's just a colt. the story is about jim rapp ~ and i think the covington throughline accents that. he talks at the beginning about capturing the "something special" about the colt in the picture. but what he captures that's special isn't the colt, it's jim and what the colt meant to him ~ to all of them.

the more you think about it, the more powerful it is.

yeah, it's an "easy" story. you see hatch firing the gun from the moment he joins the party. but sometimes "easy" is just right.

i'm really glad i saw this.

: D

Comments

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

You had me at colt :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

there is one scene where some troops are just randomly petting the colt and it kicks its little legs and is just ridiculously adorable.

i almost squeeed.

: D