Far from the political impression it gives, this movie is actually as domestic as they get. It is a fairly long movie with very important lessons of patience and endurance. The horse, its rider (Otto Thorwarth) and owner are symbolic of so many things. What I liked most were the horse racing scenes. It is quite an interesting sport, the adrenaline it gives is debatably like that of football penalties. I had to re-watch the final race, the winning horse, Secretariat’s energy was unbelievable – it started from gear 4, never slowed down till the very end, was graceful while making every stride and never broke a sweat. Aside from that, Secretariat is a tale about Penny (Diane Lane), whose mother’s death and father’s declining health makes her take over the running of the horses. A new born Secretariat is groomed to race. While everyone thinks Penny should sell him off before he wears out she refuses to as she wants him to run his race just as she has her race of bringing the farm back to life. The ending is predictable but it is just what you want to see when it happens.
