"Secretariat" is such a gorgeous film, its every shot and every scene so infused with warm golden light, that I began to wonder whether the movie theater were on fire. Or my head. But the welcoming glow that imbues every corner of this nostalgic horse-racing yarn with rich, lambent color comes from within, as if the movie itself is ablaze with its own crazy sense of purpose. (Or as if someone just off-screen were burning a cross on the lawn.) I enjoyed it immensely, flat-footed dialogue and implausible situations and all. Which doesn't stop me from believing that in its totality "Secretariat" is a work of creepy, half-hilarious master-race propaganda almost worthy of Leni Riefenstahl, and all the more effective because it presents as a family-friendly yarn about a nice lady and her horse.
While Andrew Beyer says:
Disney mined William Nack's meticulously reported biography of Secretariat to find the female-empowerment theme that could make this film a hit. It built the narrative around Penny Chenery Tweedy, who abandoned her life as a Denver housewife to take over the faltering operation of the Meadow Stable from her ailing father. There are plenty of sentimental embellishments, but the story is true, and actress Diane Lane makes it a compelling one. Moreover, "Secretariat" depicts the racing world more credibly than most movies and shows the racing action vividly.
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