First Hit: A wonderful film about a man who found and lives his path.
Nowadays there is a “whisperer” for everything.
Buck is occasionally referred to as a horse whisperer but in reality he simply assists people in understanding their horses. In this realm, Buck is phenomenal. He knows his audience (the horses and people he trains).
His path to his greatness, and there is no mistake he is great at what he does, came from his curriculum of being raised by an abusive and overbearing father all the way through the gracious firm kindness of his foster parents. Via his mentor, we see how he humbly watched, listened and learned how to understand the connectedness of man and horse. We learn that the connection comes from sensing and feeling the inner home of each respective horse. Each horse he says “reflects its owner”.
In this film we watch him as he travels from 4 day training to 4 day training. We watch him speak directly and clearly to owners who are having issues with their horses. He treats each horse with a firm directness which builds trust within the horse. He is funny, self-deprecating, honest, open and most of all clear about what he does. He doesn’t claim anything beyond that he learns each time he teaches.
During the film we see a number of segments of these 4 day trainings and we meet his wife who visits and his youngest daughter who travels with him through the summer months. It is clear they admire each other. We meet his foster mother who raised 23 foster boys and she is a hoot.
Sitting and watching the film, an air of admiration fills the movie theater which climaxes when, at one point, he kindly coaxes a damaged horse into a trailer after the horse bit a trainer in the face.
We admire him because he treats this horse with the same sense of kindness, respect and honor that he has for any horse in the film.
Buck Brannaman is a true teacher and student of how life really works. Cindy Meehl did a wonderful job of capturing Buck, his family, and his life in learning.
Overall: A wonderful effective film of how life works. And as the tag line states: “There is no wisdom worth having that isn’t hard won.”