Do you want to see a great movie?

Okay, then see Secretariat.

It is a Disney
flick, and it does have the sentimentality and moral platitudes that
comes with that, but this movie is a well-crafted and wonderfully
written and acted film.

Diane Lane and John
Malkovich are remarkable in it. (Malkovich is an absolutely amazing
actor, and, to tell you the truth, I've never seen him put in
anything but stellar performances.)

To be honest with
you, Mary was the one who wanted to see this movie because she loves
horses.

I wasn't sure what
to expect. (I like horses, but I'm not as enamored with them as she
is.)

Well, guess what?
You don't have to love horses to love this movie. You have to
love animals in general, and you have to love people and the human
spirit.

I don't know why,
but from the very first scene of the movie, I started crying, and I
cried all the way through it until the final credits rolled.

When the film
ended, I sat there on the couch staring straight ahead almost
trance-like long after the screen went dark.

It's an amazing
film, and it had a definite and profound effect on me. At first, I
wasn't exactly sure why. Yes, as I have already stated, the movie was
well acted, well directed and well written. But, I think what really
gripped me was not so much the human interactions that were depicted,
even though they were intriguing and very well done. I think what
really body-slammed me was the horse...this amazing horse...this
phenomenal animal that was the best ever at what he did. He not only
won The Triple Crown of horse racing, but he did it so
demonstratively!. This horse won The Belmont by thirty-one lengths! No horse had ever done anything like that before, and
none have done it since.

Even though I knew
beforehand the outcome of the race, I found myself loudly cheering
and shouting as the archival footage of that Belmont played out on
the screen. It must have had something to do with the celebration of
life, the inspiration of a champion, and the realization that no
matter what we are physically, (a human being, a horse, a dog), we
ALL can be exuberant about our lives, and we all have potentials that
need to be fulfilled, and we can all affect all of those around us in
very positive ways.

Rent this movie.

Diane Lane does a
wonderful job.

The screenplay is
engaging, fun, and, at times, riveting.

Malkovich is
Malkovich at his best.

But it is the horse
and his wonderful story that gets you in the gut and fires your
imagination and sends tears streaming down your face and fills your
chest with pride just for sharing the earth with such a magnificient
and bigger-than-life creature.

When the movie was
over, I felt the horse in me.

I looked down at my
dog Fritz, who was lying at me feet, and I saw the horse in him too.

I looked over at
Mary Ellen, and there was the horse yet again.

The horse is in all
of us.

It is the horse.