Buck (2011)

You won't be disappointed!

i must have seen a different film!!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

From the start of the documentary, Buck's calm, quiet, and humble demeanor captures our attention. His low voice encourages you to edge your seat forward, just so you can hear what he's saying-almost as if he's whispering a secret into your ear. Buck maintains eye contact with horses more than he does with people, simply because he understands them better. He cares for them, nurtures them, and loves them with all his heart, so much so that he sacrifices family time for a life of solitude so that he can hold clinics across the country. Buck is truly an inspiring person. No matter how violent a colt may be when entering his clinic, Buck is always able to build a rapport with it without the use of words. He comforts and pets the horse, almost as if to say, "You're okay. Don't be afraid to let your walls down." Buck is able to show the horses that he is there to love them and that no one is there to hurt them. He even patiently ushers a violent, uncooperative 3 year old horse into the truck. Buck wants people to be able to relate to the horse before asking the horse to do something for them. He wants to help build strong and understanding relationships between horses and people. Buck's clinics not only show how people should treat horses, but also reveal how this is about a person's life and the people in it. Buck shows others how there is always an alternative path-whether it be the way a person treats a horse or the choices a person makes in his/her life. Buck grew up with an abusive father, but refused to grow up like him. Although this seems like a gruesome childhood, Buck never needed the sympathy of others-not even when his foster father handed him a pair of beautiful working gloves the very first day he arrived. Buck shows that like people, horses are vulnerable and are capable of shutting down. He says that usually, it is the human who fails the horse through neglect and mistreatment. Towards the end of the movie, Buck regards the unfortunate event between the violent horse and its crestfallen owner, "A horse is a mirror-a mirror into your soul." This quote is truly breathtaking because it shows that not only are the participants learning about the horse, but the horse is also teaching the participants aspects about themselves that they may not realize until someone breaks the truth to them. He opens the public's eyes to how a person and a horse can become so incredibly connected that they become one mind and one body. By simply leaning back and forth atop a horse, Buck is proof that people can gain the full cooperation of a horse without a single touch! Buck's voice and actions will seize your attention the way they did with mine.

Buck Brannaman, the film's subject and namesake, may be the greatest horse trainer alive today. Traveling from state to state for the better part of the year, he runs an open clinic to apply, test, and maybe even show off his skills. He is at once hyper-masculine and hyper-sensitive, well-built and soft, with a near-impossible rapport with horses. Upon being introduced to him by way of interview, he appears as the sort of figure so Americana that one must wonder if it is possible for him to exist at all. This near-mythical quality is not diminished throughout the course of the film, but rather amplified. This proves to be both its greatest strength and, ultimately, its undoing.The first thing established is that Brannaman's skills are utterly peerless. He is far more than a "horse whisperer": his equine interactions are more like complete conversations, almost contracts with the animals. He is able to approach nearly any horse with ease and form one of these contracts in a matter of seconds. He looks at a horse and instantly understands its entire past. We see Brannaman's customers look on with awe, nodding along as he uncovers and unpacks horses' entire histories, like some sort of ultra-Americana Freudian. The onlookers' awe is captured with grace by the film, most likely because it is shared by the documentarians themselves. Problems only arise when the film tries to draw itself in closer than the star-eyed spectators.The film is simply unable to keep up with Brannaman. The central voice of the film is Brannaman's, and the documentarians barely offer any interpretation at all. This is absurd: one cannot narrate a documentary about one's self without destroying the possibility of an external voice. The stark obedience is suffocating. As he describes his methods and his influences, the film barely budges from the generic, much-maligned "talking heads" style of documentary. We are occasionally treated to stray images and footage of Brannaman's past and influences, but these feel detached. The film is clearly not on Brannaman's level, and so it resorts to simply listening to Brannaman. This becomes particularly problematic when we learn that Brannaman was physically abused as a child. We are presented with interviews with the foster parents that rescued him from his broken home, footage of he and his brother, dead-eyed and on television beside their towering, quietly menacing father. The material is indeed terrifying when seriously considered, but it is presented in such a detached and almost random matter as to feel nearly weightless. We may sympathize with poor Buck and applaud his rise to equestrian greatness, but only in the same manner that we may sympathize with a fictional hero destined to victory. This superficiality is, when considered, both terrifying and immediately understandable, given the mythical manner in which Brannaman is presented. A better documentarian could have truly humanized Brannaman, going beyond simple talking heads and slides, but this crew is simply too in awe of Brannaman to show his grief as it is. Every time we come close to truly reaching a revelation about his character, it pulls back to his amazing talents, and he remains too far above us to be seen.The film closes with a vignette about an oxygen-deprived stud horse who exhibits severe aggression, inciting rage from Brannaman directed at its owners. The horse is finally put down as Brannaman makes a speech about how it could have been more with proper care and attention. This sequence is both microcosmic of the film's issues, and an apt metaphor for the film itself. Once again, Brannaman's words reign supreme, destroying any hint of objectivity or any possibility of real analysis of his character. Pathos is almost induced, but constantly falls flat in the face of lack of direction. The horse being taken away to euthanasia is perhaps like the film itself: it could have been something far greater if the caretakers weren't so scared to get closer.3/5

An intriguing and fascinating documentary about the amazing and strong willed horse trainer named Buck..At a very young and tender age, Buck began to perform rope tricks along with his older brother and soon became a local star. People lined up to see Buck and his older brother perform. Although the boys seemed to have a wonderful life, their life behind the scenes was terrifying. Their father treated them very harshly and made living with him a horror. Buck's mother hindered his aggressive behavior but after she died the father unleashed his full wrath on the kids causing Buck to leave his home and begin his professional career with horses."To be great you must be sensitive". Buck advocates a very benevolent approach to horses. One of Buck's strong beliefs is that the way you treat horses resembles the way you treat other human beings and any inner conflict problems one has with his or herself. This documentary teaches life lessons and general respect for animals rather than simply forcing a horse to do as one wishes. If a horses is broken in using harsh methods, the horse is going to be very aggressive in response and extremely unhappy. This movie provides a different yet effective method of approaching horses. The comments of other horse owners further strengthen Buck's reputation by advocating his methods and stating how efficient and productive they are. As an individual who hasn't been around horses, i can't compare or even being to comprehend how strong and skilled Buck truly is. Even so, this movie gave me a taste of how skilled and powerful Buck is. This documentary is not the most exciting but as a viewer who knew nothing about horses, I felt this documentary was definitely intriguing,informative and interesting to watch.

"You can discipline and discourage, or you can discipline and encourage." Buck Brannaman, better known as the Horse Whisperer, is really good at the second half of that quote. Buck Brannaman has had to go through a lot in order to become the person who he is today. This spellbinding documentary follows the life of the Horse Whisperer and the awe he carries with him wherever he goes. He is the psychiatrist that works on the relationship between the horse and the human. It's Buck's story, though, that really sets him apart from others that might be like him. He has had to overcome numerous mountains in order to be the person people know him as.Every interview that was shown in the documentary was emotional and truly heartfelt. The people that truly know Buck really understand the difficulties that he had to go through. Switching gears, the music and camera work were on point. The shots that were captured and the music that was played with every interview, every story, every moment made the documentary what it is, outstanding!