“Shut your eyes!” I yelped throughout the pool as my 5-year-old took her very first plunge off the diving board this summer time. This garnered fairly the humorous look from her dad. However, inside me, I knew I used to be proper: Leaping right into a pool together with your eyes open could make you go blind. I noticed it in a film as soon as and by no means forgot that warning — or the film, for that matter. Launched in 1991, Wild Hearts Cannot Be Damaged was a movie based mostly on the memoir A Lady and 5 Courageous Horses, which advised the true life story of an precise individual, Sonora Webster. Do you bear in mind the chokehold that film had on us in our youth?
In fact, for those who grew up within the ’90s, you understand what I am speaking about. And, for those who dwell with out anxiousness, you in all probability know my daughter is simply wonderful. In spite of everything, there’s a little bit of a distinction between my daughter leaping haphazardly from a board suspended two ft from the water and the magnificent horse-diving feats accomplished by Sonora. Nonetheless, that reminiscence and panic jogged my memory precisely how obsessed I used to be with Wild Hearts Cannot Be Damaged in grade college. I could not presumably be the one one, proper? And it is nonetheless clearly simply as good as I bear in mind… proper?
Time for a re-watch! (It is on Disney+, by the way in which.)
The 30-Second Synopsis
If you happen to weren’t a self-proclaimed “horse woman” within the ’90s or did not develop up oddly obsessive about something set earlier than the Nice Melancholy, you haven’t any thought what you missed. Wild Hearts Cannot Be Damaged follows a younger orphan woman, Sonora Webster (performed by Gabrielle Anwar), on her quest for fame. She sees an advert within the paper for a “diving horse woman” and makes her approach to the honest, quickly settling for a job as a stablehand however by no means giving up on her dream.
The folks of the touring circus, particularly these related to Dr. Carver’s Diving Horse Present, turn into a discovered household for her. The headstrong and pushy Dr. Carver acts nearly as a father determine to Sonora. His son, Al, trains her when Carver pushes her requests apart, educating her how you can mount a transferring horse and dive 40 ft right into a pool under (sure, Al inevitably turns into Sonora’s love curiosity). After falling from a horse and dislocating her shoulder, the present diving-horse woman, Marie, finally ends up unable to carry out, and Sonora will get her want.
However throughout a fateful efficiency in Atlantic Metropolis, the crash of a cymbal sends Sonora’s horse faltering, and he or she plunges into the pool (you guessed it) along with her eyes open. The impression of the water on her eyes causes Sonora to go blind. But, she nonetheless will not hand over on her dream, even when her now-future-husband Al forbids it. With the assistance of an outdated good friend (and death-defying bike rider), Sonora hoodwinks her household and the group. She mounts and dives her horse, nonetheless blind, and continues to take action for one more 11 years.
The Large Hitch
Wild Hearts is so dramatically accomplished and but so superbly written that it is onerous to imagine it is true. However it’s. Largely.
And it’s nonetheless so good. Largely.
If you happen to’re an grownup who hasn’t seen Wild Hearts in a number of a long time (or ever), I 10/10 suggest you watch it. The cinematography, the story, the attractive surroundings, the horses, the actors — all of them make the movie price your 90 minutes. It is the excellent approach to escape a foul day. Will I present it to my daughter, although? I have never absolutely determined.
It is price stating that the film was launched in 1991 and was set within the Twenties, each a long time with a lot completely different requirements than now. This is not some story a person made as much as go well with his personal pursuits, both, however an honest-to-goodness true story about an actual girl’s coming of age, her triumphs and her tragedies.
One of the crucial problematic features of Wild Hearts stays the connection between Sonora and Al.
In actual life, Sonora and Al had nearly a 20-year age hole, they usually met when she was in her teenagers. Within the movie, Sonora is of an indeterminate age however remains to be at school till she runs away. The actors had a 10-year age hole — Anwar was 21 then, and Schoeffling was 31. Once you break down that quantity, it does not appear too alarming, and given the norms of Melancholy Period courting, Sonora and Al’s partnership in all probability wasn’t scandalous again then, both.
The film may truthfully make the partnership worse, as Sonora’s youth is highlighted a number of occasions whereas Al could be very clearly a grown man. Nothing various kisses are shared (and even hinted at) on-screen between Sonora and Al. Nonetheless, a really clear sense of romance pervades the plot (they even get engaged on-screen).
As a result of context is wildly essential, so is the maturity of the viewer. Whereas I do not suppose Wild Hearts is a film that must be turned off the minute my 5-year-old enters the room, I would in all probability wait till she’s in her mid-teens to do a correct “exhibiting” in order that we will discuss issues like consent and applicable age gaps in trendy society.
Feminism ~With Caveats~
I am additionally unsure we will name Wild Hearts feminist anymore, although we definitely would have within the ’90s. On the floor, it is a couple of headstrong woman who leaves behind a lifetime of abuse to chase down what she desires in life. Time after time, Sonora is advised no and pushes again. She actually goes blind and is advised she will’t pursue her ardour anymore, just for her to do precisely that. Sonora Webster was a feminist icon within the Melancholy Period, and the film model of her turned a feminist icon for horse women in all places within the ’90s.
Nonetheless, there are some things a contemporary feminist may take situation with.
Sonora and Marie’s relationship is tenuous at finest — they see one another as competitors for Al and the job, and Marie is commonly catty and imply to Sonora. I believe trendy mothers count on extra from their feminine relationships and the ladies we share with our daughters. What was commonplace in 1924 is downright cringe-y in 2024. We do not need to view different girls by means of the lens of competitors.
Sonora’s relationship with the lads in her life can be troublesome. Al constantly helps Sonora’s desires, even on the onset of her blindness. And, sure, that is what we would like from a accomplice for us and for our daughters. The difficulty? The fixed want for male permission. Each step of Sonora’s journey appears to require approval from the lads in her life. The boys maintain the reins, so to talk.
Granted, that probably wasn’t problematic within the ’20s and was barely seen as such within the ’90s. It is solely underneath the magnifying glass of recent feminism that this theme turns into a problem. Do I need my daughter to suppose that every one of her achievements have to be met with the approval of males? If I am being sincere and ornery, I would say fairly the other.
So, the place does Wild Hearts Cannot Be Damaged stand within the lengthy listing of nice motion pictures from my childhood? Actually, it nonetheless ranks excessive. Sonora’s story is good and exquisite underneath a magnifying glass from any decade. I am nearly grateful for the near-heart assault poolside that triggered the reminiscence. And I’ll completely let my kiddo marvel on the diving horse woman in Wild Hearts… sometime. I am simply going to attend till I can correctly clarify some issues first.
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