Review No.16: Buck

After establishing the rules of a good documentary film and then watching one about the fascinating Bill Cunningham I felt harsh scrutinising another doc about a similarly great man the real life horse whisperer Buck Brannaman. The film mainly follows Buck on his tour of America as he teaches people how to properly look after and train their horses something the family from War Horse probably could've done with. Buck's philosophy seems to be that you have to be gentle rather than the forceful with the horses and in one scene he uses a man to demonstrate what happens when he tries to pull on a rope as if he would do with a rope. Though these scenes are interesting because they demonstrate Buck's demeanour the more interesting stuff is the exploration of his dark childhood namely the abusive he and his brother suffered at the hands of their father following their mother's death. Luckily they were rescued from the home and put into foster care with Buck eventually being mentored into the life that he now leads. I was also interested in the fact that Buck has a healthy family life with a loving wife and two daughters who he barely sees because of his lifestyle but his younger daughter looks set to follow him into the family business.

There is an interesting message in Buck about a man who spent his childhood being whipped and doesn't want the same thing to happen to the animals that he tames. Buck himself is a fairly genuine character but isn't very quirky instead being your typical cowboy with a lot of knowledge and kind nature about him. Though Buck does go over some of the ground to do with his background for the most part Cindy Meehl's film is about the man and his methods which personally I found a bit tiring after a while. Maybe it's just because I'm not that interested in horses and how best to treat them but as I mentioned before a good documentary should engross you in the subject. The whole thing though is shot beautifully and captures the American Midwest perfectly with its dusty backdrops and huge expanses of land. I just felt the whole narrative of the piece was a little meandering and there was no real focus on a definite subject apart from the fact that Buck is a famous guy and the inspiration behind that Robert Redford film that was mildly successful. While I really warmed to Buck the man, Buck the film failed to make that much of an impression on me.

Verdict: As I thought it was well-shot and put-together the meandering story of a mild-mannered cowboy gets 6/10