Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Bob Rutzel
This is a true storyIn 2001, Jan, a barmaid in a local English pub decides she wants to breed a race horse. She convinces 30 of her townspeople to invest in this venture. They do and name the horse Dream Alliance. Jan and her group pay the hefty costs of getting a known trainer, Phillip Hobbs, to train Dream Alliance. To the amazement of all Dream Alliance wins races, but in one race was kicked by the hoof of a horse in front of him and a tendon was sliced. Stem cell surgery saves him and he is able to race again. This is - without a doubt - some story. It is a documentary and starts out like a Ken Burns documentary with still pictures and narratives. After a while the still pictures go away and we see actual footage of Dream Alliance in races and posing for pictures with the owners. The narratives continue throughout with interviews of the owners. Many of these personal quips are pure gold and some are truly funny and there are too many to relate here, but you will enjoy them. There are 2-things that I didn't understand: (1) we never see trainer Hobbs with Dream Alliance; we do however, see him talking about Dream Alliance; and (2) we never see or hear any jockey with Dream Alliance. I thought these were huge oversights. Okay, one other thing; we never hear or see news blurbs about Dream Alliance, but we do see the headlines. Also there are never comments from the rich owners about Dream Alliance. One would think they would say something whether good or bad and maybe they declined comment for this production. Who knows?In any event this is a beautiful, most delightful and unbelievable true story. Yes, there may be times you will need a box of Kleenex at the ready. You will get the feeling that Dream Alliance knew what was expected of him and he did all he could to do his best. If he could talk I am sure he would have said that. (9/10)Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.
jdesando
"There are other things that I could do, but there's really nothing that I love as much as horse racing." Chantal SutherlandI dislike being forced to feel good, as movies from the likes of Disney Studios regularly do, but Dark Horse, writer/director Louise Osmond's documentary about the Welsh "thoroughbred," Dream Alliance, made me feel better than when I walked in because it's true! Owned by a group of Welsh commoners from a small town, Dream is a winner from its beauty to its heart.Not only is the story a rouser, but Osmond also uses cinematic techniques like artful slow motion, and she has the real characters from the story narrate with their abundant charm and impish humor. To listen to their affection for their horse and see how it has changed their lives to a loving community is to experience an authentic story. Although I'm not a fan of living anywhere other than the city, this town could easily win me over.Not surprisingly, Dark Horse won the Sundance audience award this January. It appeals to those who love a story about working folk one-upping the gentry in the sport of kings, and those, especially Americans, who favor the underdog winning the gold ring. In this story, the horse, in 2000 the brainchild of a local barmaid, Jan Vokes, is comfort and joy for a town that has experienced the shutdown of its mine and the loss of spirit.The strength of the doc is, as it should be, in the talking heads on camera, working-class folk with ample personality and pluck to make engaging commentators and models for a happy citizenry who never envy the swells, the usual owners of race horses. The class theme is handled by Osmond subtly and respectfully, easy enough because the Welsh are an independent and proud lot not about to envy anyone, much less the rich.Osmond crafts this story as if it were a seamless fiction, so filled it is with the vicissitudes of life that affect all of us not able to live off fortunes. The heroes of this story are the townspeople who invest in the horse when economic times are tough and ROI not certain. Beautiful horse. Beautiful film
Ed-Shullivan
Who doesn't enjoy listening to a real life story about a bunch of working class people who go out on a limb and invest what little money that they really cannot afford to spend, to see if their dream of owning a winning racehorse for a chance to enter the unattainable winners circle and have their picture taken with their champion racehorse?This is a well produced documentary style story of a group of 30 people who agreed to invest a weekly amount of 10 pounds for an entire year to bankroll a horse fund of $15,600 pounds. Their bankroll allowed them to purchase a mare for a paltry 600 pounds and find a stud with some racing credentials to which we get to witness the actual birth of this teams dream. By group consensus they chose to name their new colt Dream Alliance.Next, the group went looking for a horse Trainer to which they agreed to pay top dollar for securing his knowledge. Their logic in securing an experienced Trainer was they could have paid less for an inexperienced Trainer but they felt that since their yearling had no experience and neither did they, they had a better chance drawing from a well experienced Trainer to pass his knowledge on to their horse, than having an inexperienced Trainer pass on as little experience to an even greener horse.This story has its ups and downs and rather than give away any spoilers it is suffice to say that this group of 30 shared in Dream Alliance's victories and losses and that they seemed to have accomplished the impossible going from Nags to Riches over a several year period. What Mrs. Shullivan and I drew from this truly inspirational film was the sheer pride and joy Dream Alliance brought not only to this group of 30 investors and their extended families, but also to the small town they lived in, and eventually across all of Wales. This is a heartwarming true story with many narrative scenes occurring in the local towns pub where the original investor Jan came up with her idea to breed her own racehorse. It is a warm and sincere film well worth watching. I give it an 8 out of 10 rating.
SLUGMagazineFilms
Who doesn't love a rags-to-riches story, especially when that unbelievable tale didn't come out of the mind of some writer in Hollywood but was, in fact, true? Such is the case with barmaid Jan Voxes and her wild idea to convince a group of locals, later known as The Alliance Partnership, to invest in breeding a championship racing horse. With the coalition in agreement, they set in motion the procurement of their potential equestrian moneymaker, Dream Alliance. While the initial bouts were not promising, the stallion proved to have as much heart as he did might. As the company makes astonishing accomplishments, they are soon challenged with a horrific tragedy and only the strongest of fighters comes out on top. You can't help but smile as these "village idiots" invade the sophisticated "sport of kings" and bring all us yahoo audience members along for the ride. The sheer joy and passion Voxes has for her horse forces onlookers to shed a tear of sadness and joy in one blink. There are few films that jolt you to the core forcing you to stand up and cheer, but Louise Osmond's feel-good account is pure perfection that'll have you not only on your feet but jumping up and down as well. -Jimmy Martin
