The film begins with a young Alan Marshall describing his hero, East Driscoll who is the local he-man horse breaker. East is a bit of a loner in town and Alan and the other children seem to be his only friends. It is implied that East may keep to himself because he is embarrassed by his "roughness" and lack of education (he cannot read or write).
In the first scene, as Alan describes friend, we see East bathing nude while washing his horses in a river. This scene sets the character of East as a child of nature and something of a Greek God who is worshipped, not only by Alan, but all of the young women in town, whom East barely seems to notice. East is everything the young crippled Alan wants to be; strong, brave and independent. Even though he is crippled, Alan is still determined to be like his hero, East, by never giving up in his quest to learn how to ride.
Alan develops a school-boy crush on Grace McAlister, who along with East, is one of the few people in town who treats Alan just as if he were a "normal" healthy boy. There is a very charming scene where Grace and East are bargaining over the price of hiring East's prized stallion to stud Grace's mare and it becomes apparent that the two are bargaining over more than just horses. It seems inevitable that Alan's two favorite people will get together and become illicit lovers.
Since we are seeing the film through Alan's eyes, we only gradually realize that something is going on between Grace and East. One of the highlights of this film is the sequence where Alan spies on Grace and East as they make love in a barn. This is handled with great tact; the lovemaking is not shown as repulsive and shocking to the young Alan, but as beautiful and natural. In a way, it mirrors Alan's own growing sexual awareness. Grace and East quickly realize they can trust that Alan not to tell anyone about their affair and Alan starts to become part of this strange surrogate family.
One of the subplots is about Alan's father, who in his younger days was a horse breaker like East. In Alan's eyes, his father gave up horse breaking for the less "manly" job of a storekeeper. Part of Alan's fascination with East, is the fact that East represents what Alan's father used to be.
The tragedy begins when East starts to insist that Grace run away with him during the local ball/dance; in spite of the fact that Grace has already told him she will not leave her husband. This is one of the most touching parts of the film, to see this "tough" man completely loose it and fall to pieces over this one woman. He has put all of his hopes and dreams for the future into Grace and is incapable of giving up. (We've also seen in earlier scenes that his determination and refusal to give up is what makes him such a good horse breaker.)
East has been drinking heavily the whole evening of the ball, obviously nervous about what Grace would decide to do. At the ball, Grace still refuses to leave her husband and go with him. East loses control at the dance and creates quiet a scene that is witnessed by the whole town. Tragedy seems to be inevitable as East leaves the dance rejected, hurt, and in a drunken stupor.
This is Russell Crowe at his best; the pain, humiliation and disillusionment on his face, when he realizes his whole world is coming to an end, is completely heartbreaking. Charlotte Rampling also gets one of the rare chances in her career to play a sympathetic, understanding character. The confusion and anguish she shows on her face as she helplessly watches East's manly exterior begin to crumble before her eyes is truly touching.
(Spoiler Warning!)
We know things are not going to turn out well, when Alan sees East ride past his house at full canter and is barely able to stay atop his horse in his drunken state. (This is in stark contrast to the many earlier scenes of East riding past Alan's house as gracefully as a professional jockey.) Therefore, it is no surprise when Alan finds East the next morning, barely clinging to life, hanging from the stirrup of the saddle of the horse. Alan bravely manages to detach East and is dragged for miles by East's horse to get help.
While Alan is in the hospital, he sneaks into East's room and quickly finds out why no one has allowed him to see East. East was dragged about so much by his horse, that he is brain damaged and reduced to nothing more than a vegetable. To see this beautiful young man he admired so much and who was so full of life reduced to this state, is one of the great tragedies of Alan's young life. The contrast between the happy child of nature East was in the beginning of the film and what has become of him is unbearably sad. Ironically, East finally gets what he wanted. Grace takes responsibility for her actions by leaving her husband and taking East to England where she will take care of him.
The film ends with a touching sequence that shows that through this tragedy, Alan has earned the respect of the "grown up" men in the town pub. Before, they would barely notices him and even inadvertently knock the crippled boy over; but now they respect his brave attempt to save East and they respectfully let him pass and even invite him into the pub for a drink! With sensitivity for the weaknesses in us all, this film shows that growing up is an extremely painful process, but a necessary evil we must all go through.
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