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Wild Horses

Steven Hellerstedt | 03/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The place is New Zealand, the time is the present, and the story is about what happens in a small community when the trees have been cut down and the sawmill closes. Some of the workers, the ones who can shoot, hire on with a venison packing company to hunt and pack the plentiful deer. Others just drift away. The ones with an independent bent strike out on their own. Mitch (Keith Aberdein) is one such free spirit, and he decides to earn a living by capturing and reselling the free roaming wild horses in New Zealand's Tongariro National Park.
Mitch and a couple of his mates prove to be inept, and loud, horse catchers. Essential to the plot but bad for them the ruckus they raise not catching horses spook the deer, making the venison harvest difficult. Plant owner Benson (Michael Haigh), in the best western tradition, hires a black clad professional, Tyson (Bruno Lawrence) to kill the horses so they'll quit interfering with the deer hunt. In the meantime, Mitch enlists the help of two skilled horse capturers - the wise old Sam (Tom Poata) and the pretty young Sara (Robyn Gibbes.)
I liked WILD HORSES a lot. It was nice to see a conflict western in a new and, to me at least, exotic location. The rules are a little different in New Zealand. As one character says, "Horses, deer, rabbits - they've all got to go. None of them are native." In other words, horses can be shot where they stand, with impunity, and left to rot where they fall. In fact, there are some disturbing scenes where it appears horses are actually shot and killed. The movie doesn't condone the killing, and it has dramatic impact, but anyone sensitive to graphic and realistic scenes such as those should be forewarned.
If you can abide the violence WILD HORSES is a deeply rewarding film. I especially liked the way the hired-gun Tyson developed. Early in the movie the veteran wild horse catcher Sam tells Mitch that "We leave a few of the best stallions to breed. That way there'll always be horses." The best of those is an elusive silver stallion. Tyson reaches an agreement with Mitch that the silver stallion will be the last horse shot by his men. The stallion, "something that stands up for itself out there," binds Mitch and Sara and Tyson together and propel them all into a surprising, although inevitable, conclusion.

WILD HORSES is a modest little gem of a movie. The color is a little washed-out and it contains some short scenes of graphic violence. Save for that I strongly recommend it.
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