098 - White Mane, 1953, France. Dir. Albert Lamorisse.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

098 - White Mane, 1953, France. Dir. Albert Lamorisse.

That dirty beast!  Whoever wants him can have him.

Even me?

Yes, even you.

The herdsman has had enough.  White Mane is a wild horse.  He is impossible to catch.  He is impossible to tame.  He kicks with his front legs.  Kicks with his back legs.  Attacks with his nose.  Lunges.  Bucks.  Runs.

No one will ever catch him.

No one will ever tame White Mane.

Folco is a young boy.  He hears the herdsman.  He interprets the herdsman's words differently.

"Whoever wants him can have him."

The herdsman said it with contempt.  Disgust.  Sarcasm.  In the act of quitting.  The herdsman is a quitter.

Folco hears it as an invitation to a dream.

Folco hears an adult tell him that he can have his own horse.

Folco wants White Mane.  Folco can have White Mane.  Folco hears the word can.  Folco hears permission.

Have you ever been young?

Have you ever had a dream?  An impossible dream?  Do you still have a dream?  Or are you a quitter?

Folco lives with his grandfather and little sister in an untamed land.  A place called Camurgue.  The swamps.  The marshes.  The lowlands.

He moves about in a little boat.  The kind that in the Louisiana bayou would be called a pirogue.  The kind that in the jungle rivers of Honduras would be called a kayuka.

He stands in the back of it and pushes with a long pole.  He helps his grandfather catch fish and gather food from among the marshes.  He moves about freely over many of acres of land and water.

White Mane runs with the herds.  He is the leader of his herd.  He wishes to remain free.

Folco and his Grandfather and sister live alone.  With no civilization anywhere to be seen.  For miles around.  In all directions.  They wish to remain free.

Folco and White Mane are kindred spirits.  Of course White Mane will understand Folco.  Of course White Mane will appreciate him.  Yes.  But. . . .

Folco gets a rope around White Mane.  White Mane takes off.  Drags Folco along the ground for miles.  Drags Folco across the water.  Across the marshes.  Folco does not catch White Mane.

Finally, Folco does catch White Mane.  He brings him home.  He loves him.  White Mane loves the family.  But he wants to be with the herd.  He leaves.

Other herdsmen return and in greater numbers.

They are determined.  They are relentless.

One day White Mane appears at Folco's home.  Wounded.  Bleeding.  Folco nurses him.  Helps him.  Heals him.

The herdsmen appear at the home.  White Mane gets away.

"The only way to get him is to set the marshes on fire."

They set the marshes on fire.

Folco goes into the marshes, goes into the fire, to save White Mane.

That boy is crazy.

He saves him.

Now Folco and White Mane run together.  Run away from the herdsmen.

The herdsmen become obsessed.  White Mane is the White Whale.  They are Ahab.

They are the Three Horsemen of Folco's Apocalypse.

They chase him to the river.  They chase him out to sea.

And White Mane with his great strength carried his friend, who trusted him, to a wonderful place where men and beasts live together, always.

Albert Lamorisse made three short films.  Bim in 1950.  White Mane in 1953.  And The Red Balloon in 1956.  He also made features.  He also made documentaries.

He also invented the board game Risk.

Really?

Yes.

Albert Lamorisse, filmmaker, invented the board game Risk.

When you play Risk, think of Albert Lamorisse.  When you play Risk, think of The Red Balloon.  When you play Risk, think of White Mane.

He died while filming.  In a helicopter crash.  His family finished that film for him.

Albert Lamorisse was a photographer.  White Mane was filmed in beautiful, crisp black and white.  The Red Balloon was filmed in beautiful, lush color.

White Mane won the Short Film Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1953.

The Red Balloon won the Short Film Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1956.

The Red Balloon won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1957, winning over the feature films The Bold and the Brave, Julie, The Ladykillers, and La Strada.

When you see White Mane you may think of National Velvet or The Black Stallion, but it is closer in spirit, although much simpler, to a 1982 Australian film called The Man from Snowy River.

Both films are about the one--the only one--who has what it takes to tame the wild horse.

Jim Craig is The Man from Snowy River.

Folco is the boy from the marshes of Camurgue.