''Running Free'' is a 2000

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

about a horse born into

captivity Captivity, or being held captive, is a state wherein humans or other animals are confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely. An example in humans is imprisonment. Prisoners of war are usually held in captivity by a ...

in 1914. The film began production in 1998 and was released in the US in June 2000. It was directed by

Sergei Bodrov Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov ( rus, Серге́й Влади́мирович Бодро́в, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐˈdrof; born 28 June 1948) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer. In 2003 he was the president of the jury at the ...

, written and produced by

Jean-Jacques Annaud Jean-Jacques Annaud (; born 1 October 1943) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed ''Quest for Fire (film), Quest for Fire'' (1981), ''The Name of the Rose (film), The Name of the Rose'' (1986), ''The Bear (1988 film), ...

, narrated by

Lukas Haas Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. His notable ...

, and distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

Plot summary

The film takes place primarily in

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

(now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

) in 1914 during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. An Arabian

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

gives birth to a beautiful chestnut

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt (horse), colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. Whe ...

during a voyage to

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

for work in the

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

mines. The foal is separated from his mother upon arrival at a German colonial mining town and nearly expires from

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water that disrupts metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds intake, often resulting from excessive sweating, health conditions, or inadequate consumption of water. Mild deh ...

. He is subsequently saved from certain death by the 12-year-old sympathetic town stable boy, Richard (Chase Moore). Richard allows Lucky to live in the thoroughbred stable - much to the resentment of Caesar, resident stallion and the prize horse of a wealthy colonial resident. Lucky is finally reunited with his mother, but she is killed by Caesar, furious that a workhorse has trespassed into his stable. Lucky wanders away from the town upon the death of his mother but returns after being struck by a desert snake. Richard treats the bite with Caesar's personal medication, but Richard is caught by an 8-year-old boy named Hans (Nicholas Trueb) despite being threatened with grave consequences from the latter's vengeful master (

Jan Decleir Jan Decleir (born as ''Jan Amanda Gustaaf Decleir'' on 14 February 1946) is a prolific Belgian movie and stage actor born in Niel, Antwerp. Career He had his first big role in Fons Rademakers's ''Mira'' (1971). Since then, he has appeared in ...

). After being savagely punished, the duo depart to seek a much-sought

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Namib Desert The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba Ri ...

with Lucky, Richard encounters a 12-year-old girl named Nyka (Maria Geelbooi) who teaches them how to survive in the harsh landscape. When they eventually return to the mining settlement, it is struck by a South African air raid. The local ''

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned a ...

'' garrison begins evacuating civilians, but Richard refuses to leave Lucky. He is forced to do so against his will when Allied biplanes return to strafe the railroad. Back at the camp, Lucky is repelled by Caesar and the other horses who treat him with contempt. He sets off for the oasis once more, vowing to beat Caesar one day. After the evacuation, Nyka was left to watch over Lucky and even brought him to her tribe. When he picked up a familiar smell from the hunt done by Nyka's tribe, Lucky leaves. After making the acquaintance of several exotic animals in the desert, Lucky finally stumbles upon the hidden oasis. Two years later, he returns, defeats Caesar, and leads the remaining horses to the water. Another twelve years pass with Lucky presiding over his new herd before a 26-year-old Richard ( Arie Verveen) returns to South-West Africa, now a South African

mandate Mandate most often refers to: * League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919 * Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate Mandate may also r ...

. He finds the mining town deserted and flies into the desert searching for the oasis, which can be glimpsed from the sky. Upon landing, Richard stumbles upon the horses and is nearly killed by Lucky who attacks him. However, the latter soon recognizes his friend's unique whistle and the two rekindle their relationship. The movie ends with Lucky continuing to lead the herd through the Namib desert.

Cast

Filming

The film was directed by

, who had previously directed the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-nominated ''

Prisoner of the Mountains ''Prisoner of the Mountains'' (, ''Kavkazskiy plennik''), also known as ''Prisoner of the Caucasus'', is a 1996 Russian war drama film directed by Sergei Bodrov, based on the 1872 short story '' The Prisoner in the Caucasus'' by Leo Tolstoy. The f ...

''. Screenwriter Jeanne Rosenberg had previously worked on the film adaptation of '' Black Stallion'' directed by

Carroll Ballard Carroll Ballard (born October 14, 1937) is an American filmmaker. Originally a Documentary film, documentarian, he became known for directing sweeping, visually striking films with Nature, natural and ecological themes. His body of work include ...

. The film was produced by

, who had previously worked on such films as '' Quest for Fire'' and '' The Bear''. Animal action was monitored by

American Humane The American Humane Society (previously American Humane), is an American animal welfare organization founded in 1877 that works to rescue, care for, and protect animals by taking action wherever and whenever they are in need. It was previously ...

with under the supervision of Animal Anti-Cruelty League.

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. A ''New York Times'' review of the film was unenthusiastic, saying the film "vacillates between cutesy

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

-style

anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

and ''

Born Free ''Born Free'' is a 1966 British drama film starring the real-life couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers as Joy and George Adamson, another real-life couple, who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and released h ...

'' exoticism" and that the "equine action sequences are poorly edited", while the musical score was "sugary". The reviewer was disappointed in the filmmakers, given their previous accomplishments, and the fact that the film portrayed horses as "masters of the obvious who think and speak entirely in movie cliches". Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

also panned the film, giving it 1.5 out of 4 stars. Ebert called the human characters "one-dimensional cartoons" and criticized the plot for historical and cultural errors. He was also disappointed with the filmmakers, given their previous efforts, and stated the film "might have been more persuasive if the boy had told the story of the horse, instead of the horse telling the story of the boy." The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 27% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 30 reviews, with an average score of 4.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "The narration in ''Running Free'' detracts from its beauty, and pushes the film to the point of absurdity."

References

External links