Review: Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (DMC #91)
Have you ever heard the story of Sonora Webster Carver? This week we watched Disney’s take on the life of this famous horse diver in Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, which is the 91st film in the Disnerd Movie Challenge. Our synopsis is available below if you need some catching up. If you are already familiar with this film, feel free to skip ahead to our review.
Synopsis
Sonora Webster lives with her sister, Arnette, and her strict and abusive aunt Helen during the height of the Great Depression. Sonora dreams of leaving her aunt’s home and living in Atlantic City. She cuts her hair to imitate a famous magazine model, causing her aunt to force her to wear a bag on her head as punishment. On her way to school, Sonora tends to her horse, Lightning. She is confronted by some schoolyard bullies who make fun of her hair and her horse. Sonora claims that Lightning can outrun any horse and jump over any fence. One girl named Clarabelle calls her bluff, daring Sonora to jump. In the jump, Lightning breaks a fence and accidentally sets a herd of cows loose. At school, Sonora hits Clarabelle after being made fun of and is suspended from school, though Sonora refuses to leave. Her teacher ignores her for the rest of the day. Later, Sonora finds an advertisement in a newspaper for a horse diving girl. When she returns home, she discovers that Lightning has been sold thanks to the cows that got loose and because she was suspended from school. Aunt Helen confronts Sonora later and tells her she’s being moved to an orphanage. Instead, Sonora sneaks out of the house that night, giving Arnette a goodbye kiss on the forehead. She slips away to a local county fair where she encounters a man named Al being hassled by a group of men who believe he’s cheated them in cards. Sonora helps Al by hiding one of his trick cards, allowing Al to escape unharmed. She later meets a younger man named Clifford, who longs to come up with a “death-defying” act that he can perform. As she explores the fair, Sonora comes across William Frank “Doc” Carver—the man who put out the advertisement—and one of his diving girls, Marie. Sonora watches Marie perform a dive and requests to be Doc’s new diving girl. Doc dismisses her, saying she is too young and doesn’t fit the look of a proper horse diving girl. She meets up with Al, Doc’s son, and pretends to have been hired. When she returns Al’s card to him, Al begrudgingly shows Sonora the diving tower but insists that she shouldn’t be a diving girl.
Sonora is soon given a job as a stable hand after Doc witnesses her tending to the horses. She, Al, Doc, and Marie travel to Virginia, where Al manages to win a wild horse in a card game. He and Sonora make a deal that if Sonora can manage to tame the wild horse, perhaps she would indeed be cut out to be a diving girl and Al could train her. During the taming sessions, Sonora names the horse Lightning. She and Al bond during the sessions, with Al sharing that he used to want to be just like his father, but now wants little to do with him and the business. In one session, Sonora kicks Lightning with her heels and causes the horse to throw her off. Al tells her not to use that method, though he also remarks that Sonora is getting better at mounting and riding Lightning. Later, Marie tells Sonora that she should consider “[taking] care of her appearance” if she plans to make it in show business. Sonora attends dinner after dolling herself up with a new hairdo, makeup, and a fancy dress. Marie and Doc laugh while Al just winks at her. He later takes her out on a lake to go swimming where the two kiss, but Sonora breaks it off and quickly swims away. Doc notices the growing romance and warns Al to stay away from someone so young. Some time later, Sonora is seen riding Lightning alongside Marie and her horse. Sonora’s new skills impress Doc enough that he decides to train her as a diving girl after all, much to Marie’s annoyance. On one of her first mounting sessions, Sonora injures her nose. Al wants her to stop while Doc insists she continue training. Sonora ultimately decides to keep training and eventually manages a successful mount. This pleases Doc, but Al scolds his father for pushing too hard while Doc insinuates Al is just a quitter. Al goads Doc further and Doc punches Al, who at first attempts to hit back before deciding to leave home. He promises to write Sonora and sends her several letters. However, Doc intercepts them and hides them from Sonora in an attempt to continue to dissuade the romance.
One day, Marie’s horse falls ill so Doc decides to use Lightning in the shows. Marie tries to show Sonora “how it’s done.” She ignores Sonora’s warning not to kick Lightning with her heels; Lightning throws Marie off him when she does and causes her to dislocate her shoulder. With Marie injured, Doc asks Sonora to perform in the upcoming show. At the show, she is reunited with Clifford who is now employed as her stable hand. On the day of the dive, Sonora is nervous and fears disappointing Doc. However, she and Lightning complete their first jump. Sonora basks in the glory of the performance and Doc joyfully declares that his shows will display Sonora and Marie’s names together. A jealous Marie demands a higher salary. Doc, growing tired of her behavior, refuses and Marie quits the show. As the only diving girl left, Sonora and Lightning perform many jumps together over time. Al continues to write letters to Sonora while Doc continues to hide them. At some point, money becomes tight and the group is unable to perform. Doc and Clifford drive to Franklin County to find work while Sonora stays behind to tend to the horses. Lightning falls ill with colic after eating moldy hay. Eventually, Al returns to the farm and he and Sonora work together to heal Lightning. Doc and Clifford return and Al tells his father he’s back to help with the show, but Doc sadly tells them that there won’t be any more shows. Soon after, Doc receives a telegram informing everyone that Al has found work with the Steel Pier in Atlantic City for a six-month contract that they can use to fund the shows. Having hidden this from everyone, Al reconciles with his father. On the way to Atlantic City, Doc stops short of telling Sonora about the hidden letters. He dies of a heart attack shortly after, and a mourning Al assumes his role as the show’s presenter.
The group arrives in Atlantic City. Al practices presenting the show and Sonora looks for Doc’s jacket to give him confidence. She finds one of the letters Al wrote her inside a pocket. The letter expresses Al’s love for her. She gives Al the jacket and confesses she feels the same about him. With Lightning still recovering, Sonora has to ride Marie’s horse, Redlips. Redlips is jittery which worries Clifford. Al opens the show by proposing to Sonora over the microphone, which she happily accepts. But the dive goes awry when the jittery horse, spooked by the sound of cymbals below the tower, trips off the tower instead of diving. Caught by surprise, Sonora has her eyes open as they land in the pool. Both are okay, but Sonora has trouble seeing. She tries to hide this from Al so that she doesn’t have to stop performing, but by the following morning she discovers she is permanently blind from detached retinas. Sonora tries to adjust to her new life while Al stays by her side to help her. The Steel Pier manager tells Al he has one week to find a new diving girl and resume the show or he’ll be taken to court for breach of contract. Left with no other choice, Al calls Marie who returns to the show. Sonora tells Al she misses diving with Lightning, and although Al has some initial reservations, they begin training Sonora to mount him again. The training sessions all prove fruitless and Al decides to give up. Marie takes over as diving girl again much to Sonora’s displeasure. Sonora spends a night with Lightning memorizing the feel of him so she can more easily find the mounting handles. The following day, Sonora attends Marie’s dive. Clifford locks Marie in her trailer and releases Lightning from his stable. Al presents the show and notices Lightning. He realizes Sonora is climbing the tower to attempt the dive and shouts at her to get down. Sonora ignores him and signals for Lightning to run up the tower ramp. She successfully mounts him and the two perform a perfect dive. An ecstatic Sonora climbs out of the pool to loud applause and a proud Al. He embraces her and they kiss. The film ends with a voiceover from Sonora sharing that she continued to perform for eleven more years with the audience never learning of her blindness, and she reveals that she has a happy marriage with Al.
Thoughts Before Watching
Megan: I’m not quite sure what to expect with this one, but I do like horses, so it has that going for it. It looks like this one will have a female protagonist, too. Fingers crossed we’ll get a Bechdel test pass here. Also, I have no idea what horse diving is. Is that a thing?
Kevin: I haven’t heard of this one at all. In fact, it wasn’t even on our original list; it appears to have been added to Disney Plus earlier this year. I think this is the first biographical movie in the challenge, which makes for an interesting change compared to the rest of the catalog. The film is based on the life of Sonora Webster Carver, a professional horse diver (which until this very movie I didn’t even know was a thing). That’s all I know about Sonora for now, so I’ll leave it to the movie to fill in the basic gaps. That said, I’m sure the movie takes a lot of creative liberties that I’ll probably find out about later.
Thoughts After Watching
A laid back and easygoing drama, though a bit anticlimactic at the end
Kevin: I liked this one more than I thought I would. Generally, biographical movies and documentaries aren’t my cup of tea. It’s not that I dislike them, but just that I prefer fiction for my movies and television shows. Movies based on real-life figures can often feel like they’re just checking off a list of events they need to show in order for the drama to match up with the real story. Prior to watching this I had no idea who Sonora Webster Carver was. In spite of that, there were a few times where the movie indeed felt like it was just checking off a list of various events in Sonora’s life. Strangely though, this really did not bother me. Perhaps it’s because I hadn’t heard of her before, so I had no context for anything. But I think part of it is also just that this is a very easygoing movie with a simple plot to follow. Sonora’s determination and “give-no-shits” attitude is a breath of fresh air in a time when so many movies fail to deliver on stronger female characters, especially female leads. She does have some negative traits for sure, particularly when she hits Clarabelle (though Clarabelle arguably started things), though I’d say her positive traits outweigh the negative. She’s fun to watch, and the performance of a young Gabrielle Anwar helps to seal the deal. There are definitely some stakes to be felt during the film and they create just enough tension to help sell the drama. But they’re never super high, which gives the film its laidback feeling as well.
Kevin: The ending, on the other hand, was a bit hollow. I felt deflated for some reason at the end of the movie. After watching Sonora complete her dive, we in the audience are able to feel a similar sense of jubilation that Sonora no doubt feels as well. The event was built up very well, from the moment Clifford locks Marie in her trailer, to Sonora confidently climbing the ladder, and to the slow motion of the camera as Lightning comes bounding up the ramp while Sonora waits. It’s a well put together scene and the cheering is well earned. But the movie just simply ends with one final narration from Sonora that she would continue to ride for eleven more years and that she and Al eventually married. I still can’t really explain it, but I guess something about how quickly the movie ended felt a bit cheap. Anyway, however abrupt it felt to me, at least everything leading up to it was good.
The downside of creative liberties
Kevin: An additional problem with a lot of adaptations of non-fiction stories is that they tend to either exaggerate or even change parts of the original story for a host of different reasons, perhaps the biggest being for the sake of emotional appeal. I completely understand why studios do this, though it should come as no surprise that the events of any biographical film should probably not be taken as 100% factual. The film is based on the real-life Sonora’s 1961 memoir, A Girl and Five Brave Horses. Since it arguably should contain the most accurate account of Sonora’s life, it should have been pretty easy for Disney to adapt it into a movie. With this film being the first of its genre for our challenge, I was curious to find out how much of it was based on Sonora’s life and how much, well, wasn’t. According to Sonora herself in this NY Times article, she was “disappointed” with Disney’s adaptation, having told her sister, Arnette, that “the only thing true in it was that I rode diving horses, I went blind, and I continued to ride for another 11 years.” I haven’t read Sonora’s book myself, though it’s obvious that she was exaggerating a little bit—I mean, the movie got at least a couple other things correct, such as her finding work with Doc Carver and her later marriage to Al Carver. But then again, they did manage to get the age difference between Sonora and Al wrong. In the movie, Al appears to be around ten years Sonora’s senior, at least when going off of the real life ages of the actors. In real life, Al was actually closer to TWENTY years older than Sonora!
Kevin: All joking aside, it’s hard to argue with the woman who actually lived the life the movie portrayed. From what I could research, Sonora had nothing to do with the film’s production apart from her book being the source inspiration. If this is the case, I can’t help but wonder why Disney didn’t choose to get more of her insight. It’s pretty clear that Disney was out to make an overly dramatized film and market it as the “true” version when that’s not really the case. For one thing, let’s go back to the romance element of the film. The film’s theatrical release poster shows Sonora and Al front and center, with Sonora resting her hand on Al’s chest as she looks into the camera. There is a smaller figure of Sonora riding her horse in the foreground, but other than that, there is nothing about the film’s poster that could lead anyone to believe it’s about Sonora’s journey to becoming a professional horse diver. The title itself doesn’t explain anything either. Seeing how I never heard of this movie before we looked at our list, if I saw this poster at a movie theater and had no other context, I would have thought this was first and foremost a romance. It’s really not, though. The main focus of the movie is on Sonora (as it rightly should be) and her love of riding horses, which eventually leads her to her future profession. The poster is misleading and puts the focus on something it shouldn’t. Besides, the romance is, frankly, very dull in this movie and is really only there because it actually happened in the real Sonora’s life. Again, I do get why Disney would design the poster this way since it appeals to audience’s emotions, but it shows that the studio is presenting a fictionalized historical account rather than a true biography. The film also apparently delivers what the real-life Arnette, Sonora’s sister, believes is the wrong message. In Disney’s version, Sonora’s actions could be seen as courageous. She defies others’ expectations and doubts, successfully mounting her horse in spite of her blindness. We’re meant to see this as a “defying the odds” sort of moment. But, as I mentioned, Arnette felt the movie missed the point of why Sonora continued to ride, as according to the NY Times article I linked earlier:
ARNETTE: The movie made a big deal about having the courage to go on riding after she lost her sight. But, the truth was, riding the horse was the most fun you could have and we just loved it so. We didn't want to give it up. Once you were on the horse, there really wasn't much to do but hold on. The horse was in charge.
I appreciate what Arnette is saying here. That said, I don’t think how Disney portrayed this is a huge problem. Disney’s messaging in many of its movies are about overcoming challenges and rising to the occasion. It’s just part of their brand at this point, and it’s partly why their movies continue to endure.
Putting aside the historical inaccuracies, this was a pretty good movie. The plot may seem like it’s just hitting checkmarks along the way, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyable experience of seeing Sonora fight through obstacle after obstacle to achieve her goals. While the romance is tacky, I thought Gabrielle Anwar and Michael Schoeffling worked well together and had enough on-screen chemistry. Cliff Robertson’s performance as Doc Carver was also really good, especially in his scenes with Schoeffling when Doc and Al have their falling out and when they make up. Again, it must be stated that this film (and others like it) should not be relied on for accurate representations of the stories they portray. They are first and foremost dramas and should be taken that way. If anything, biographical movies could serve as a gateway for audiences to learn the history behind the real person’s life. As a standalone film, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is enjoyable and worth watching.
This is what happens when you let men tell a woman’s story
Megan: Like Kevin, this film made me super curious about the real-life woman who inspired this film. It is such a fascinating and inspiring story, yet it’s disheartening to hear that the real-life Sonora and her sister Arnette were so disappointed with the film adaptation. As a writer, I can sympathize with wanting to fictionalize elements of a true story to make things more cinematic and adhere to a more traditional hero's journey story structure. However, the choice to fictionalize or emphasize some moments over others will differ depending on the writer. In this case, having an all-male writing and directing team on this film is probably at least part of the reason why the real-life Sonora and Arnette were a bit disappointed with the outcome of the film. It seems the male creative team chose to emphasize what they thought female audiences would like—hence the love story being the major selling point of the movie poster. However, without any (credited) female on the writing team, Sonora’s story ends up feeling less like a woman’s story because it is missing the elements of the female experience that would have added color and flavor to the story. Case in point: the female relationships in this movie. Sonora spends most of the movie surrounded by three men: Clifford, Al, and Dr. Carver. The only female characters she interacts with are Aunt Helen, her sister Arnette, the girls from school, her teacher, and the other diving girl, Marie. With the exception of her sister, all of Sonora’s female relationships in the film are antagonistic. The other girls from school pick on her. Her teacher scolds her. Aunt Helen sells her horse and kicks her out. Marie teases Sonora and does everything she can to keep Sonora out of the horse diving show. Sure, a lot of these interactions involve dialogue between two named female characters where they talk about something other than male characters (giving us a slim Bechdel test pass), but they don’t exactly paint an accurate picture of what female relationships are like. They only perpetuate the myth that women must compete against each other to make it in this world because, as the myth goes, there’s only one seat at the table that’s available to women (in this case, the role of diving girl). The only positive female relationship we see is Sonora’s bond with her little sister Arnette, but we only see this relationship in the first few minutes of the film. After Sonora leaves a few candies on Arnette’s pillow and runs away from home, we never see Arnette on screen again. In reality, that was not the end of their relationship. Arnette actually went on to become a diving girl herself when she was fifteen, joining her older sister a few years before Sonora’s accident left her blind. The film makes no mention of it, yet I imagine that sisterly relationship likely played a key role in Sonora’s recovery and decision to keep riding. While we cannot know the filmmakers’ intentions here, my guess is when they read Sonora’s story, the parts they found most interesting were the parts where the male characters entered the story, and so those elements of the story are what they chose to highlight. Had an all-female writing and directing team had a chance at adapting this same story for the big screen, I imagine more attention would have been given to Sonora and Arnette’s relationship, and possibly other elements of Sonora’s story that never made it into this film.
Your toxic masculinity is showing
Megan: Another sure sign that patriarchy is at play? The toxic masculinity. Granted, I haven’t read A Girl and Five Brave Horses, so it is entirely possible that the moments of toxic masculinity in the film were written into the film because they happened in real life, not because the filmmakers wanted to amp up the conflict. (Though, in either case, it just goes to show how pervasive this idea of violently macho masculinity is within our culture.) Still, it’s not a great look to have the female lead constantly fighting with other female characters and the male lead(s) constantly fighting with other male characters. The most tragic example is the relationship between Al and his father, Dr. Carver. Sure, Al is a bit of a trouble-maker. When we first meet him he’s been caught cheating at cards and a group of angry men are ready to beat him up, only stopped by being unable to prove that Al cheated. We could understand why Dr. Carver might find it hard to get along with his own son, and why he might be disappointed his son isn’t doing something better with his life. However, the violence between these two is entirely unnecessary. It ultimately drives Al away from his father. Though they eventually are reunited, we never see Al and his father have any real heart-to-heart with each other. They can’t—that wouldn’t be “manly” enough. Thus Dr. Carver dies without really getting to apologize to Al or Sonora about hiding the letters from Sonora for so long, and Al is left not only grieving the loss of his father, but the loss of what their relationship could have been had things been different. Should every movie relationship be perfect and friendly? No, of course not—that would be boring. However, it’s also true that not every relationship in every movie needs to be antagonistic. We like our heroes to have friends and allies, and personally, I’d like to see more portrayals of healthy relationships where characters deal with their problems without resorting to violence.
I’m glad horse diving isn’t a thing anymore
Kevin: As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, I had never heard of horse diving before this movie. After watching it and reading up a bit on the sport, I’m personally glad it’s illegal. Doc Carver himself is credited with inventing the sport after an accident that involved him having to force his horse to dive off a collapsing bridge. There are numerous accounts of diving girls and horses getting hurt from the dives, particularly just due to the height alone, and there is one account of a man named Oscar Smith who died in a diving accident. I mean, some of those diving platforms were as high as forty feet (the movie props reportedly only went as high as ten feet due to regulations), which is high enough to cause a strong splash when hitting the water. Sonora’s injury and subsequent blindness is probably the most infamous account. While it’s common to experience injuries and possible death while participating in sports, this sport in particular just sounded weird to begin with. There are certainly other sports which involve animals that could be argued on moral grounds, but in the context of this one, I’m pleased to see it’s no longer legal. When attempts to revive horse diving in the ‘90s (a result of this movie, perhaps?) failed to gain traction, the president of the Humane Society of the United States at the time was quoted to have said, “This is a merciful end to a colossally stupid idea.” I could not agree more!
Megan: The good news is that it seems in the making of this film, much of the horse diving was simulated. If you pay attention to the wide shots of the horse diving from the highest platform, the image actually looks doctored. We also never see one continuous shot of a horse doing a jump. We’ll see the horse running up the ramp, but we cut to another shot of the horse actually diving. Of course, the horses did jump from some sort of platform in order to splash into the water, but my guess is it was a much shorter platform than the forty-foot-tall platform we’re seeing in the movie. This combined with the American Humane Society’s seal of approval in the end credits made me feel much better about the wellbeing of the animal actors in this film, which made it easier for me to immerse myself in the story being told. Like Kevin, I’m also very glad the sport of horse diving is no longer a thing.
