Windstorm (2013)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Mika is bad at school (normal life), but is good with the wild horse. I liked instantly the concept, I understood this will be a tale about talent. Mika breaks every rule she finds and yet nothing happens, apart from she finds her way. Her way that is also the way of the other "outsider" (the horse). They make "career" together, and Oma should accept them together. She can be proud of them. Even if she did not do anything really to any of them, just the opportunity to meet. While watching this movie, I had nearly constant smile on my face, this is the kind of film that gives you hope and inspiration to follow your dreams.

The parents of Mika (Hanna Binke) send her to her grandmother to instill some structure and discipline in her. The grandmother was once an Olympic rider and owns a riding stable. Mika feels she is not good at anything, but discovers her talent when she befriends a troubled horse named Windstorm. This is a good family movie about a love affair between a troubled horse and a human namely Mika. Mika discovers she has the gift of what a horse feels and they bond instantly. This is not as predictable as it may seem because there are a few bumps along the way that surprised me. (You're too easy)This is a German movie and the English is dubbed in. After a while it is not all that distracting or noticeable as we get more involved with Mika and Windstorm. And involved you will get . The story is well told and you never want this to end. As far as I am concerned this is as good as the movie The Black Stallion. (8/10)Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

"Ostwind" is a German 2013 film that runs for 100 minutes without credits. Children's films are fairly popular in Germany right now and this is another addition to the genre. The cast includes some fairly known actors, such as Jürgen Vogel, Tilo Prückner (channeling his inner Mr. Miyagi) and Detlev Buck (great director too). It's usually only the child actors that are relatively unknown in these kind of films and same goes for Hanna Binke as well. I guess this film exceeded expectation as director Katja von Garnier ("Bandits") directed a sequel pretty quickly too that came out not too long ago. But back to this one. The biggest weakness is certainly the script. The dialogs are pretty bad from start to finish on several occasions. And from the contest, in which Ostwind has his meltdown, it also becomes ridiculous in terms of the action. It's a collection of attempts at great emotion, edge-of-the-seat drama and possible tragedy and it's just too much that destroys all the film's credibility.This film lack focus completely. The scenes with the majestic horses bay be fine to watch, especially for young girls, but the story built around it is never big screen level. It's also fairly ridiculous how everything is solved within the last 10 minutes: especially the mother-daughter relationship on 2 occasions, something that wasn't managed in years before that. And of course, in the end, there is another contest, so we forget about the messed-up previous one. I am also not too certain if casting Hanna Binke for the central character was a good choice. I cannot see a lot of acting talent. Her voice is monotonous and the same from start to finish, her face does rarely change at all, no matter if she is happy or angry and I am not at all buying that bad girl routine that she seemed to have had very early in the film. Possibly the actress who played Michelle, the main antagonist, may have been a better choice. She shows more emotion in really not a great deal of screen time. Marvin Linke did not convince me either, but his character also suffered from really bad writing more than any other, so it may not be entirely his fault.As a whole, I liked this film much more when I watched it on the big screen for the first time. now that I saw it again, I must say it definitely has a lot of flaws and is really a pretty bad example of writing. The certainly could have kept it at 80 minutes if they had gotten rid off all the ridiculously over-the-top scenes in terms of the characters' relationships. I will probably watch the sequel I mentioned earlier at some point, but I cannot say this first film got me particularly curious. I just hope they toned it down a bit on the unauthentic emotional impact this film is trying to make. I don't have a lot of hope though as I see it was made by almost the same people. It is pretty ridiculous that "Ostwind" scored awards attention on several occasions. That "Best Children's Film" trophy at the German Film awards is especially a mystery. The 2 other nominees "Bibi & Tina" and "Sputnik" are definitely superior in my opinion. I cannot recommend watching "Ostwind".

To be sure, I've taken a hard look (actually it was shoved down my throat) at "spiritually-inspired training methods." Also, I'm aware of non US differences in techniques... Further, walking a horse off the Amish truck (Hungary) was not a foreign concept to me when I felt the need. And last but not least, I'm not here to "bad mouth" the film because movies are for entertainment purposes, with fictitious content - which should therefore not be subjected to peer review.Having said all that, in the interest of harm reduction, I'd like to offer a few sentences:Horses are extremely powerful animals and even the most docile weanling can cause serious injury to an individual unintentionally. No thousand pound class animal can be tranquilized and dropped in a few seconds with an intramuscular injection. Colts/Stallions in general, are not the type of animal you want to bond with - that's why most are gelded. Grooming takes place while a horse is tethered, preferably with cross ties. A horse in a domesticated environment requires a halter, at night, in a stall, it may be removed but should be replaced asap in the AM. Never lie down anywhere near a horse.Outstanding lighting effects, please see it with your children - the ones that have reading skills.The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.