Cowboy Down

I'm kind of interested in Chloe Zhao (because Eternals) but sort of wasn't interested in Nomadland. When I mentioned my dilemma to Ms. Spenser, she suggested we watch The Rider (2018). Now, this is a semi-documentary movie about Native Americans, traumatic brain injury, alcoholism, fetal alcohol syndrome (maybe) and I was prepared to be pretty bummed out. But I knew it would be beautiful.

It start Brady Jandreau as Brady Blackburn, a rodeo rider of Lakota descent with a bad head injury. Note that this is true of the actor and his character. His father, played by his father, is a drinker and gambler. His sister, played by his sister, is developmentally challenged. Wikipedia says autistic, but I was guessing fetal alcohol syndrome - I guess she doesn't match the facial characteristics, so I don't know. Anyway, she's sometimes the least fucked up in the family. Their mother is dead.

Brady can't ride, and certainly can't ride rodeo. His hand sometimes clenches uncontrollably and he gets nauseated when he rides. And of course, another head injury could kill him. His old rodeo buddies come visit and take him out to a mesa to drink and smoke dope around a fire all night. They all want him to get back on the horse. He wants to get back on, but can he?

He visits his friend and mentor. Lane Scott (played by himself). Lane has some more serious injuries - he is nearly paralyzed, shakes uncontrollably, and can barely sign to speak. Brady helps him with physical therapy, holding reins for him to pull. They talk about him riding again, but it doesn't look like he'll ever even walk. Next to him, Brady must feel pretty lucky, and maybe a little guilty for not trying harder, for not being harder.

And so it goes - he works at DakotaMart, shelving, checking and mopping. Kids in the store are excited to meet a rodeo star like him, and don't put him down for taking some time off. He works with one youngster, getting him ready to ride rodeo, and even gives him chaps and the shirt that Lane gave him to wear at the rodeo.

And we see him training horses. I don't know if this is called "breaking", but it should be called gentling horses. These scenes are magic, as we watch him develop trust and rapport with a beautiful animal. One scene is kind of funny, because his client, the horse's owner keeps up a stream of praise - "Look at that, he calmed right down.," "They said you were the best, boy, it's true." It seems a little over the top (these are mostly non-actors, and the script seems to be mostly improv), but also real.

His sister sings all the time, about the Moon and Stars and Clouds. Not Indian songs, just nonsense. It's beautiful.

There's a lot of hardship in this movie. Brady's dad sells their horse to pay rent. Brady buys a poorly trained horse cheap and trains him up - even when riding makes him puke. This doesn't end happily.

But oddly, through it all, this is not a movie about misery. It's about strength - Brady is going to do whatever he can to get back on the rodeo. Even if he can't, he's going to do everything he can to do what he can. He is stronger than his body. It's also about love - his family (even his asshole drunk dad), his friends, the horses and the big sky and country he lives in.

So I did not end up bummed out. Maybe more thoughtful than uplifted. But my spirit was not crushed.

One stupid thing I'd like to mention. I was just reading about the Lakota, and it seems that when the Sioux first saw horses, they called them "magic dogs", because dogs were the only pack animal they had domesticated. And the look in the horses' eyes in this movie - wary, intelligent, not trusting, but willing to consider cooperating - reminded me a lot of our dog. She's not a dog who gives undying devotion, stares into your eyes and begs for a pet. So I think our dog maybe part magic horse.