Touching Wild Horses (2002) Movie Review

By Caterina Tadlock

Touching wild horses is the story of Mark ( Mark Rendall) 12 year old boy who, after a tragic car accident involving his parents and younger sister is forced to live with his harsh aunt Fiona ( Jane Seymour) on isolated sable island. At first young Mark hates the idea living on a deserted island with only his aunt, but as he gets to know her, and the wild horses he begins to feel differently. Together, with the help of a special colt, Fiona and Mark learn valuable life lessons about trust, respect, faith and taking risks. When Mark first arrives at the island he is told never to tough the wild horse's but when he finds an abandoned colt, he breaks the rules. At First Fiona is furious, but she soon realizes that sometimes rules need to be broken and risks need to be taken.

The story is believable and touching, but also somewhat overly sentimental. The acting is decent, and the cinematography is excellent. The movie is filmed on glorious Sable Island and is full of wild horses running free on the sandy beaches. If nothing else the movie should be viewed for its picturesque scenery and lovely horses. I was also pleased to see that the horses not Friesians, Andalusia's, Arabians or any other such elegant breed of horse that could never be mistaken for a wild horse. While I'm not sure what breeds were used in the film, their scruffy appearance and imperfect conformation made it believable that they could actually be wild. The movie was however not without its inaccuracies. I don't want to spoil the story, so I'll just say that the behavior of some of the horses would likely never occur in reality, no matter how attached they were to their human friend