Hidalgo has all the pieces for an epic racing story. Frank Hopkins (Viggo Mortensen) is a storied long distance cross-country racer and enters into the biggest, most dangerous, and most exotic race in the world across Arabia. It turns out that the movie also has all the elements of a nice Redemption of Man story.

Hopkins is half Native American, and witnesses the mass killing of his people at Wounded Knee. Afterwards, he is lost and turns to the bottle. His only way out and up is by “defending his horse’s honor.” The race, that is, becomes a journey towards redemption. While sailing across the Atlantic, the curious cowboy figure is asked if he has killed any Indians. His response, “one, a long time ago,” can only refer to himself, a kind of Fallen Man. Hopkins has put off his heritage, and been left with no home, no identity. The race he enters is grueling; many of the entrants die or kill one another. Hopkins, however, regularly demonstrates grace to the ungracious, providing a cinematic, narrative companion for the verse, “very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die” (Romans 5:7). Spent from the race, Frank Hopkins is close to giving up, but does not. Saved Man is reinvigorated and races to win.

The film has all the right pieces, but exactly what story does it successfully tell? Is it another epic race story, or is it an allegorical salvation narrative. Unfortunately, neither. Various questions are posed and answered; the foes are set up and knocked down, but too predictably, in too trite a fashion. Though the imagery, allusions, and associations could combine to lend a powerful synergy to the story, the film ultimately feels more like two legs forced down one pant leg, fighting for stability.

This was Viggo Mortensen’s first film since the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is definitely hard to see Aragorn and think “Native American.” Having said that, Viggo does know how to ride a horse (not the mechanical stand-in horse used by Tobey Maguire in Seabiscuit). Is this role-playing convincing? There is a bit of yin and yang here. The fact that Viggo can ride a horse does allow for large, sweeping shots of him and his horse, contributing to the film’s epic feel during the race. I think that Viggo did a nice job, but the movie was lacking and that taints the performance. This may have been Hidalgo’s (the horse’s) first film, but I don’t see a sequel since he was, fittingly, put out to pasture at the end.

For the Simpleton: Tell me a story, tell me lies, and if you can’t make me believe it, give me a few good one-liners. “I didn’t want to do it—all I wanted was a cappuccino.” (Thank you, Hudson Hawk.)

By Chad Tatko