Unbranded

Last night we attended a special screening of the film, "Unbranded". I normally wouldn't go to a movie on a work night but a friend had posted about this movie on FB and they needed to sell at least 80 tickets to get the movie here for screening. They doubled those sales and moved it to a larger screen. Yeah, Tricities!

 

This film is worth seeing. It is an entertaining documentary of four young cowboy friends fresh out of college who act on the idea to adopt a dozen wild mustangs from the government adoption program, train them and ride them from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. And, they take us along for the ride. The jaunt takes them six months.

 

WHAT I LEARNED is that the growing population of mustangs is causing a problem not only for ranchers in the west but for the horses themselves. There simply is not enough ground food for free range cattle and the wild horses. There are groups on both sides of the issue and this film does a nice job bringing that to the public eye in a careful manner that doesn't evoke hate or controversy. It left me thinking about how difficult it must be for both ranchers and horse lovers who don't want to see these beautiful animals locked up in corrals, which is the only thing they can do right now to remedy the problem. There was very little talk of a sterilization program. The solution was not what this film intended to portray. I think the producers did a great job going right down the middle of the problem, laying it out there for people to look at and talk about. I definitely will be paying more attention when I hear people talking about this topic.

 

For me, the movie was filled with beautiful scenes and moving photography that made me envious of the film makers. The ride through the Grand Canyon was a nail biter and I had to cover my eyes in places because it was harrowing. But it was gorgeous!

Bottom line:  See this film when you have a chance.

love, susan