A Horse Inspired Me (Why I Love Spirit: Stallion of The Cimarron)
30 Days of Writing Challenge: Day 7 “Favorite Movie”
I just realized that I’ve let myself get inspired by horses too many times. One of my favorite series is Bojack Horseman; I loved My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and my all-time favorite movie since I was a todd is Spirit: Stallion of The Cimarron. And today, I’ll be talking about that movie because it’s today’s theme. Yes, favorite movie.
When I was a kid, I used to be obsessed with horses. So I’d naturally ask for horse-related things. I was given books and paintings that used to belong to my grandfather (he used to have a horse ranch, he breeds racehorses), and my parents bought me horse toys, video games, and movies. Among all the movies, I seem to really love Spirit: Stallion of The Cimarron. I used to watch the movie almost every single day. Back then, I didn’t even know what it was about; I just loved seeing how the story went.
After several years, I think I was in ninth or tenth grade; I thought to myself that I wanted to rewatch the movie. So I did. I got very nostalgic when I rewatched the opening sequence and heard Matt Damon narrate the story as Spirit, the horse. Not to mention hearing all the music scores by Hanz Zimmer again with Bryan Adams singing every single soundtrack. It brought back so many feelings. After all these years, I really thought that the movie was just about a stubborn and cool horse trying to find his way back home. I mean, kid me wasn’t wrong. It was essentially about that, but it brought a lot more than that to the teenage me.
The story starts with the birth of our main character, Spirit, a curious foal. He was always running off to do goofy things. He also had a best friend, an eagle. This foal was exceptionally brave, too. After all the years, he’d grown up to be the leader of his herd, still a brave and curious one at that. His bravery saved a foal from his herd from being eaten by a cougar (I think it is a cougar, not sure, though). But his curiosity initially got him captured by a group of soldiers after discovering their campsite and trying to free the soldiers’ horses.
From then on, the story tells about how Spirit tries to free himself to return home. He remains untamed by the soldiers and eventually was helped by an Indian man named Little Creek. They ran away from the soldiers’ base to Little Creek’s village. Spirit remained a stubborn horse and tried to attack Little Creek but was stopped by Rain, a mare owned by Little Creek.
At this point, the story initially goes on about how Spirit bonds over everyone, including the villagers and their horses. Then, of course, Spirit finally falls in love with Rain for helping him ‘see’ the villagers up close. But of course, the story can’t be over. The soldiers came to attack the village. Rain was injured, and Spirit stayed by her side after attempting to save her from dying in the river. The soldiers discovered them, and Spirit was again captured, this time with the other villagers’ horses. Spirit almost lost all his hope before finally realizing what he still has to do; as the soundtrack says, “Remember who you are.” (Sound The Bugle, Bryan Adams).
The horses arrived to soon realize that they were forced to build a train track. Spirit, realizing that the track leads to his homeland, finds a clever way to escape from the chains and free the other horses. He finally escaped but was badly injured during the process. This time, Little Creek came for him. They were happily reunited and thrilled to find each other alive and well. Yes, if you had a hunch about bad things happening next, you’re right. The soldiers found them.
The last chase showed us that Spirit finally lets Little Creek ride him. They escaped the soldiers together with Spirit’s run and Little Creek’s clever tricks. There were a bunch of incredible scenes that ended with a huge jump by Spirit and a loud victorious cry by Little Creek. After surviving the jump, the colonel nodded as a sign of respect to Spirit and Little Creek and just went away. They did a little celebratory and went back to the village.
Spirit looked at the village with sad eyes. He thought he’d lost Rain, but Little Creek called her, and they were reunited. Spirit was thrilled, and Little Creek held Rain and Spirit in his arms. Then he let them go.
“Take care of her, Spirit who could not be broken.” — Little Creek to Spirit.
“For the first time in my life, I felt my heart torn two ways.” — Spirit
This scene broke my heart, but they were all happy. Little Creek and his village won their freedom back, and so did Spirit.
The story ends with Spirit and Rain back in Spirit’s homeland with his herd and the eagle.
It was interesting to see how Spirit’s journey to win back his freedom intertwined with others’ freedom. He helped free other horses, a village, and Little Creek. His pride was also broken by letting a human help him and later ride him. Little Creek also learned to value Spirit’s wish to be free and return home, showing that humans can also be unselfish. It taught me a lot about how even though we are supposed to meet at some point in our lives, it does not mean we are supposed to be that way forever. Even after all we’ve been through, we have to let go. Yes, the farewell is sad. But the freedom to choose the next road of our life journey is very well deserved for everyone.
We shouldn’t keep anyone or anything from their freedom.
— Nathania S. Alexandra, 2021
