A Painter's Musings on the Visual World

This week I watched the Black Stallion movie again…twice. The first half of the film when a boy and the stallion are shipwrecked on a deserted island has one of the most beautiful pieces of cinematography I have ever seen. Exceptional cinematography is the equivalent of painting with the camera. In addition to the beauty of the setting in Sardinia and the subject, it is completely without dialogue once the boy and horse become stranded. The quiet of these scenes emphasizes their visual strength and it is the truest sense of what a “moving picture” is.

Three elements are integral to making it work: the creativity of the camera, the natural beauty of the horse and the location, and the innocence expressed in the face of the child actor.  

Admittedly I love horses and will probably watch this many more times without tiring of it. It exemplifies the art of understatement both in cinematographer Caleb Deschenel’s choices but also the portrayal of Alec by then 11-year-old Kelly Reno. Reno grew up on a ranch in Pueblo,  CO and his parents answered an open call for a boy skilled with horses. Kelly wanted to do it so he could learn to swim. I applaud Director Carroll Ballard for daring to rest a starring role in a big production on a complete novice. 

Perhaps it is Reno’s innocent upbringing and lack of acting experience that lend magic to the film. 

With art of any kind, stripping out the clutter and noise can reveal a simple essence that is both poetic and powerful. Others may prefer seeing all the details of information and a more complex story. Those who gave the movie a less than stellar review wanted to remove the very scenes I have described. 

Understatement is not for everyone. My husband watched the movie with me and it was clearly too slow-paced for him. The new Star Wars 3-D movie was more his speed. They are different ways of seeing and different places we want art to take us. While we can as viewers learn to appreciate different experiences, we still will tend to gravitate to one preference. The same is true for making art.

Now that The Black Stallion is 40 years old, I became curious about what happened to the young actor. 

As it turns out, after doing the second Black Stallion movie and two smaller projects, Reno at 18 was in a car accident and had a long recovery which made his Hollywood connections dry up and ended his acting career. Even before his accident, he and his family had decided that acting was disruptive to the family. It may be the best thing that could have happened to him. He returned to cattle ranching for some years and, now 53, the boy who had the starring role in a Francis Ford Coppola film drives a truck. 

Not everyone is made to be a rock star or even be wildly or publicly successful. Stepping away and stepping back to the ordinary has a great many rewards as well. Life in the slow lane affords us the time to feel the wind, hear the hoofbeats and notice the everyday beauty. 

To see clips from this part of the movie:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2hlWgQxi0Q