Movie Analysis: SEABISCUIT

Themes: second chances, struggle
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Year: 2003

Though loosely based (more loosely than publicized) on Laura Hillenbrand's nonfiction bestseller, writer/director Gary Ross succeeds in making Seabiscuit every inch his own. He accomplishes this by filtering each character, scene, and image through the subjective lens of his own viewpoint and theme.

The ability to project a strong personal style on a story is the mark of most successful storytellers. The powerful allure of this siren's call can drown out many weaknesses in a story.

Despite its title, this movie is not about the legendary horse, Seabiscuit. As far as the story is concerned, Seabiscuit does not exist until after the beginning of Act Two, over forty minutes into the film. The story is generally about three men, and specifically about the surrogate father-son relationship between two of them.

The first act devotes itself exclusively to exploring the backstories of the three main characters through parallel storylines (compared to a scant four minutes later on for Seabiscuit). The cross cut structure of Act One begs for comparisons among the three men, but aside from the backdrop of the Great Depression, there is nothing remotely similar about their lives. The transitions bridging divergent scenes are stylistically clever but remain shallow. We could say that each suffers loss, but the losses are unrelated. The loss of Charles Howard's son and the loss of horse wrangler John Smith's Old West might be loosely attributed to industrial progress, but that has nothing to do with the loss of jockey Red Pollard's family. Pollard seems most strongly impacted by the Depression, while Howard seems hardly scathed. Neither is there anything similar among the men's reactions to these events to help provide insight each into the others.

With all the backstory loaded into the front of Seabiscuit, there aren't many opportunities left for "reveals"--those surprising revelations of information that turn the plot in new directions. Reveals protect a story from sinking into predictability, because they demand a change from the main characters. It creates the twists and turns in the plot and engages the audience.

The only reveal in this story occurs when Smith and Howard learn the reason Pollard lost a specific race was because he's blind in one eye. Smith demands Howard take action based on this information. However, Howard insists, "It doesn't matter." His refusal to react is his only reaction.

So why does the writer deliberately deflate the only reveal in the movie? In the best stories, every story element is a slave to the theme. This is no less true in Seabiscuit, but here the flaw in the theme undermines the story elements as a whole. In the reveal, the theme demands that Howard deny the importance of Pollard's deception.

The theme in this story is all about second chances. Howard gets a second chance to be a father figure. Pollard is given countless second chances to ride. Seabiscuit is given a second chance at a career. The whole Howard racing team is given a second chance at the Santa Anita, the event capping off the movie.

Second chances and not condemning people for struggling with mistakes is half of a very worthy theme. It reaches toward an aspect of the divine nature of God, Who is Love. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 2:22-23). Jesus Himself said, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Love is not in the business of condemning people for mistakes, but helping them overcome them.

Where Seabiscuit's theme falters is in its attempt to redefine the definitions of condemnation, struggle, and victory. In Seabiscuit, giving someone a second chance means ignoring his mistakes and subsidizing his struggle, rather than helping him overcome his mistakes and encouraging him to triumph over the self-destructive habits holding him back from victory. Gary Ross' stated ambition with this movie was to change the definition of hero to mean someone who struggles, rather than a champion. A worldview exists that claims the way to shield people from condemnation is by removing the burden of higher expectation. However, this only sets up people for despair, because it denies them hope that there is anything more to life than a continual struggle.

In serving its flawed theme, the movie fails to attach any long-term consequences to the characters' actions. This dulls the edge off developing conflict, and lowers the stakes for victory. Once taken under Howard's wing, nothing Pollard does (losing, rages, lying) jeopardizes his professional or personal position. Howard expends great energy pursuing a match race with triple-crown winner War Admiral, but has nothing at risk personally, professionally, or monetarily. Yes, he wants to prove a point about second-chances, but how will he be tangibly worse off if he fails?

Serving the theme affects the story in other, smaller ways, by disconnecting the movie's setups and payoffs. The only source of consistent conflict in the first act is a symbolic one between Howard and Smith. The natural antagonism between what these two men represent evaporates the instant they meet at the beginning of Act Two. It's a setup without a payoff.

This also happens regarding Smith's uncanny ability with horses. Much is made of his skills at the beginning of the movie, his using mysterious hand motions and devoting one-on-one time to hard-case horses. However, we don't see him apply any of these skills on Seabiscuit. The character of Smith largely fades away by the third act, when the story focuses almost exclusively on Pollard.

Another segment emphasizing this weakness in the storytelling involves retraining Seabiscuit to break fast and take the lead in preparation for the match race. After devoting several scenes to setting this up, the writer snatches the payoff away. Instead of experiencing the miniature "victory" of watching Seabiscuit break fast for the lead, the audience is offered still photographs of closed, out-of-state storefronts.

The final scene is the most powerful illustration of this pervasive ailment in the story structure. Here, Ross summarizes the movie's theme with one masterful visual manipulation. As Pollard and Seabiscuit stretch toward the much-anticipated Santa Anita finish line, the picture melts away--before they win the race.

Seabiscuit is a beloved story told in a fresh, unique style. The setting of the Great Depression is explored with the same attention to detail as the characters of Howard, Smith, and Pollard. The theme, though broken, supplies the foundation for everything that happens or doesn't happen in the story. This unifies disparately structured acts. But by erasing the expectation of victory, this film makes it virtually impossible to derive a sense of satisfaction from the story. We want the characters to win, but it's hard to root for someone who insists struggling is enough, victory doesn't matter.