Whatever you think about the notion of racehorses, Dark Horse is a moving documentary about a group of people in Wales who decide to finance one. They eventually succeed after the birth of their horse, Dream Alliance, a gangly colt who grows up to be a solid jumper.
Through interviews and archive footage, we see the horse from birth all the way through many of his races, where he proved to be an unlikely champion. Of course, tragedy strikes during one of the races—and then the movie becomes the story of an amazing comeback. Or, depending on your point of view, it becomes the story of a bunch of folks in Wales pushing a beautiful animal well beyond the point of reason.
There’s no denying that Dream Alliance is a beautiful animal, and his story is inspiring. The story of the horse is far more compelling than the story of the folks who owned him.
The end results are uplifting and happy, but things came perilously close to being extremely sad. The documentary is entertaining, but it will definitely have you thinking about the treatment of animals for sport.
Dark Horse is now playing at the Camelot Theatres (2300 E. Baristo Road, Palm Springs; 760-325-6565).