Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West
An immersive journey into the world of wild horses, WILD BEAUTY illuminates both the profound beauty, and desperate plight faced by the wild horses in the Western United States. Filmmaker Ashley Avis (Disney's BLACK BEAUTY) and crew go on a multi-year expedition to uncover the truth in hopes to protect them, before wild horses disappear forever.
- Released:
- Runtime: 99 minutes
- Genre: Documentaries
- Stars:
- Director:
Comments
- laurajbinns - 23 May 2023
Visually Stunning But...
As a person who owns/loves dearly her own Mustang and has watched/competed in Mustang shows, I was disappointed by the obvious bias displayed by Ms Avis. Her only mention of the sale of Mustangs was to bring up the slaughter pipeline which would lead the uninformed to believe that's what happens to most adopted Mustangs. She failed to mention the Mustangs that have been adopted from the BLM, successfully gentled and trained, and now serving as anything from family trail horses to police horses. Nor did she show any of the programs using Mustangs to help rehabilitate prisoners or as therapy animals for people struggling emotionally. Some footage of the amazing accomplishments of kids with their Mustangs at the Mustang Youth Shows would have been nice. I get that she wants her viewers shocked and appalled at the fate of the horses and showing horses who were rounded up but ended up in great situations might defeat that. But she's going down the very path that Velma Johnston (Wild Horse Annie) tried to avoid. That is, focusing totally on emotion and leaving out facts. The value of the Mustang, their strength, hardiness, and intelligence, should not be overlooked if she hopes to convince the US government to take a different path in Mustang management. Simply painting the BLM as villains (multiple times in the film the camera is focused on guns worn by uniformed BLM employees. Some BLM employees are law enforcement, so they carry guns, just as police officers do, but obviously the camera focus is meant to make them appear.cold and threatening to her film crew) does not help her agenda. Do I agree with how the US government is currently managing the public lands? No. But more facts to go along with the beauty of the photography would go further in convincing those in power to explore other options in managing the situation. Going on endlessly about how the horses are "crying for their families" might not have the result she hopes for when the film is shown to Congress. Those holding the purse strings need to see the value in preserving the Mustang, beyond just an emotional plea to save the pretty horses. When the bias is that obvious it makes it more difficult for the viewer to believe everything the filmmaker is saying.
