‘Hidalgo’ tries hard to follow the footsteps of its glorious predecessors in the genre of desert adventures, but despite having its evocative moments, fails to strike a consistent chord with the viewer.
The story revolves around a washed up endurance rider Frank Hopkins and his mustang named ‘Hidalgo’. Together they had won every endurance race in the North American continent, but were now over the hill. As the rider and mount make a living performing in circus acts, they are given another shot at glory and big money by being invited to participate in the Ocean of Fire, a 3000 mile race across the Arabian Desert. Here they must face oppressive climate, warring tribesmen, treacherous competitors and their own self-belief as they take a final fling at victory.
The story gives ‘Hidalgo’ the potential to become an epic. There is a strong undercurrent of a fight for acceptance of a race, a man’s race and a horse’s race in the eyes of the world. Set in the backdrop of post-gold rush era, it touches upon the discrimination against the Native Indians as the ‘white-man’ takes over. Hopkins’ character is half White American and half Native American and while he is predominantly seen as a white, he feels for the plight of his Native Indian community. His horse is seen as ‘wild’ by the owner of the Arabian horses and hence inferior to them in the great race. This struggle for acceptance is what gives the story an edge.
But, when it comes to the execution, director Joe Johnston is not able to build a strong foundation of human emotion to support the structure of the plot which is the race. The emotions on display barring the one between Hopkins and his Indian roots are at best commonplace and do not help the story rise above the mundane.
Viggo Mortensen as Frank Hopkins delivers a below par performance as the brooding cow boy Frank Hopkins. He is too stiff during scenes when he needs to appear cool and some of the punch lines just don’t deliver. Omar Sharief as Sheikh Riyadh is at his expressive and sensitive best, but his role does not have enough meat to make an impact.
‘Hidalgo’ does have some wonderful moments set against a challenging landscape, but overall fails to touch the lofty heights that it could have. A good watch if you are a fan of the genre.
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