Hidalgo

Angela: ** Louis: ***

Based on a true story, or at least a real person, Viggo Mortensen plays Frank T. Hopkins, a cowboy and dispatch rider for the U.S. Cavalry who, along with his horse Hidalgo, had won numerous endurance races across the United States at the end of the 1800's. Given their reputation, they're invited to participate in "The Ocean of Fire", a 3,000 mile endurance race across the Arabian desert - a race normally restricted to the finest bred Arabian horses owned by the greatest of royal families.

We weren't expecting too much from this film, but in the end we found it fairly entertaining. Although slow at the beginning and at times a little hokey, it was exciting and had a good heart. It was interesting to watch the cowboy in a strange and foreign land; the apparent differences and the unexpected similarities between him and local culture/people.