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Seabiscuit
Universal Pictures
140 minutes
Commentary by Dr. Lee Ramsey
Every
now and then a big production movie comes along whose impact
outpaces all the pre-release hype that puts it prancing
in the starting gate. The movie startles and carries you
for a ride worth remembering, if not taking over and again. Seabiscuit is
such a movie.
The
story is adapted from Laura Hillenbrand's well written
account of the depression era, 1930's thoroughbred racehorse,
Seabiscuit. A boxy horse with an "eggbeater" gait
and a stunted tail, Seabiscuit has all the pedigree and
none of the winning marks of a first-rate racehorse. After
three years of racing abuse, frequent whippings from frustrated
trainers and riders, and with only occasional victory,
Seabiscuit has descended to lackluster sprints around the
minor tracks. That is until Tom Smith (Chris Cooper), a
seasoned trainer, spots the beauty within the beast. He
convinces Charles Howard (Jeff Bridges) to buy Seabiscuit
and to take a long shot on a horse that hasn't yet been
taught to run. The magic begins when the down-and-out jockey,
Red Pollard (Tobey Maguire), blind in one eye and prone
to quoting Shakespeare, desperately pleads with Smith for
a chance to ride Seabiscuit. Pollard finds his horse and
Seabiscuit finds his rider. Together, they take the nation
of the 1930s and the contemporary movie viewers for a ride.
They overcome injuries to horse and rider, defeat all challengers
- even the unbeatable War Admiral - rack up some of the
fastest race times on record, and eventually win the prestigious
Santa Anita Handicap on a third and final try. When the
spirited Seabiscuit mounted by the crippled and grinning
Pollard prances into the victory circle at Santa Anita,
everyone in the theater feels like a winner. "Don't
think," said Pollard after the race, "he didn't
know he was the hero."
So
what is it about this movie that jolts? It's just a horse,
right? Something out of American sports history that only
a few people know or care much about?
For
starters, Seabiscuit taps something deep within
the American psyche. This is a story about much more than
a horse. It is about those periods in our history (this
one happens to be the Great Depression) when as a people,
pride has been beaten down and hope is without a face.
Seabiscuit, the horse, gives shape to both. Seabiscuit,
Pollard, and Smith are the comeback kids, the dark horses,
the unlikely heroes who for a season lift the heads of
a people whose unemployment lines have grown long and who
need to see an undervalued loser find his winning stride.
At the height of Seabiscuit's fame, in his 1938 challenge
of War Admiral, one in three Americans listened to the
radio broadcast of the race. While President Roosevelt
reminded the nation that, "The only thing we have
to fear is fear itself," a gutsy horse and a fearless
rider flashed around the tracks to give flesh to such belief.
As the author Hillenbrand states, "For a brief moment
in America, a little brown race horse wasn't just a little
brown race horse. He was the proxy for a nation." The
film works this theme beautifully.
There
is more, however, especially for those who watch Seabiscuit through
the eyes of faith. Seabiscuit, Pollard, Smith, and Howard
affirm the essential dignity and worth of all creation
- humans and animals. These characters forge a bond upon
the anvil of common dignity that God bestows upon every
creature. As Smith says to Howard when tending to a wounded
horse, "You don't just shoot somebody when he gets
a little beat up, do you?" The theme recurs throughout
the movie. We can't help but be moved when the crippled
jockey, Pollard, nurses the wounded horse, Seabiscuit,
back to health. "Seabiscuit and I were a couple of
old cripples together," the jockey said later, "all
washed up. But out there among the hooting owls, we both
got sound again." Such statements don't need religious
dressing. Those with ears to hear can discern underneath
the dialogue the persistent care of God -- the source of
life -- who in the beginning declares that all of creation
is "good."
This
leads to the most compelling spiritual dimension of the
film. For all its pounding hooves, Seabiscuit quietly
displays at the core the character virtue of tenderness. Like an injured jockey patiently exercising a lame horse,
gentleness walks among the scenes of this movie. Moments
of care between horse and owners provide a counterpoint
to the blistering racetrack scenes. For example, the champion
racehorse Seabiscuit shares his stable with a saddle pony,
a stray dog, and a monkey. These lowly "friends" calm
his high-spirits. Pollard, the roughneck jockey and former
boxer, is prone to violent temper tantrums, but he reads
Shakespeare in his spare time. He recites poetry to the
horse. Smith and Howard make business deals based far more
upon their respect for each other than their desire to
win. At the heart of each of these characters resides tenderness,
malleable yet principled. So when racing victory comes,
it tastes that much sweeter.
We
are a people hungry for tenderness. Especially in these
days of global fear, meanness on the streets, false victories,
and unaffordable health care, we long for blessed kindness.
We yearn for a little compassion towards those who are
wounded, a little respect for those tossed on life's scrapheaps.
As Leonato says in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, "There
are no faces truer than those that are so washed [with
kindness]. How much better is it to weep at joy than to
joy at weeping!" We want to run races worth winning,
not for the payout but for the sheer joy of getting there
together. What better place to find God than as somehow
wrapped up in these human longings shared by so many, and
practiced more often than recognized.
Seabiscuit thrills,
to be sure, and you may just cheer or clap in the theater
when the odd-gaited pony crosses the finish line. But I'm
betting that this horse does much more than thrill. I'm
wagering that Seabiscuit and his rider remind us for a
few moments, with a lifetime to work out the details, of
who God creates us to be.
Copyright ©2003 Dr. Lee Ramsey
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