White Mane (Released by Janus Films, in association with the Criterion Collection)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 04/29/2008

Amazon.com
As in Albert Lamorisse's classic fable The Red Balloon, a boy forms a unique attachment in the less fanciful, if equally lyrical White Mane. While the 1956 color film takes place in modern Paris, the filmmaker's 1953 effort plays like an old black and white western. In the opening sequence, White Mane ("Crin Blanc") enjoys a life of freedom in the dusty Camargue region of Southern France. Local cowboys, portrayed by the herdsmen of Les Saints-Maries-de-la-Mer, attempt to capture him, but the wild horse keeps evading their clutches. Young fisherman Folco (Alain Emery), who lives with his grandfather and younger brother (the director's son, Pascal, star of The Red Balloon), finds himself entranced by the proud creature. In Folco's dreams, they become friends, but the horse prefers to associate with his own kind. That dynamic starts to change once White Mane realizes Folco isn't like the adults trying to tame him. The boy doesn't want to change the horse, and a relationship develops based on mutual trust. This luminous transfer features spare narration, in French or a newly-recorded English version, and minimal dialogue in favor of a flute-dominated score and chase-oriented action (which may be too intense for younger viewers). Just as the 34-minute Red Balloon won an Oscar, the 40-minute White Mane won a Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival (the two often screen together). Other than the trailer and an essay from Michael Koresky, this long-awaited release forgoes special features. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

A minor classic January 31, 2008
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

I saw this movie very many years ago, and the magic remains. Albert Lamorisse crafted a simple tale, almost without words, of a fisher-boy in France's Camargue region, and his love for the wild white stallion whose independence and freedom is threatened by man. The black and white photography is luminous, dazzling with its intense beauty. And the film's ending will stay with you forever.
Criterion is releasing on two separate DVDs two short movies by Lamorisse shot around the same time -- this one, and the better-known 'Balloon Rouge' or 'Red Balloon', made a handful of years later. Such a shame these two films, which total just 90 minutes together, could not have been released together on just one disc. 'Crin Blanc' is the finer of the two. It is a film for all people, of all ages.

5 out of 5 stars

Could be the Most Beautiful Black and White Cinematography Ever May 14, 2008
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

I gasp at the beauty of this film...the only way to describe it is to imagine a nature photograph of Edward Weston or Ansel Adams coming to life. The story is simple enough. A wild horse that runs free in the South of France is captured by some French "cowboys", yet refuses to be tamed and breaks free. Despite several efforts of the cowboys to retrieve this pick of the horses, White Mane will only allow himself to be handled by a young boy - the son of a fisherman in harmony with nature. But it is not the story that makes this film sing...it is the combination of some of the most beautiful, lyrical images I have ever seen on the screen, the folk music of the South of France, and the very sparse narration in the French language. So therefore, it is a film where nature in the raw unfolds before our eyes...without distractions of unnecessary conversation or sentimental music.

A few words about the fighting among the horses. Everyone knows this is common to determine status and rank in the herd. That is reality...in the animal world and, alas, in the human world also. What the film does is depict "White Man" as he truly is, wild. untamed, and even a little brutal.

This is poetry in film, plain and simple. This is allegory. And it is even ballet as the music - when it is played - is coordinated so perfectly with the movement of the cowboys or the horse. If you are someone who finds joy in watching a jackrabbit scampering along the cracked earth with a wild stallion accompanying his rhythms, then this is the film for you.

5 out of 5 stars

A captivating film for the child in each of us. February 21, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

After first seeing them as a child, I recently experienced a theatrical double feature of the beautifully restored prints of The Red Balloon and White Mane, soon to be released by Janus Films in newly-restored DVD format. (The Criterion Collection released a laserdisc of the films in 1986.) French award-winning filmmaker, Albert Lamorisse is best known for The Red Balloon (Le Ballon rouge) (1956), which not only earned him the Palme d'Or Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, but an Oscar that same year (the only dialogue-free film ever to win the award). His forty-seven minute film, White Mane (also known as Crin-Blanc, Crin Blanc, and Cheval Sauvage) (1953), also won numerous awards when it was released, including the the Palme d'Or Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. White Mane follows the adventures of a young boy named Folco (Alain Emery), who befriends an untamable wild white stallion named White Mane in the marshes of Camargue, France. When (in a scene reminiscent of Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar) a gang of ranchers try to spook White Mane by setting fire to the area he lives, Folco jumps on White Mane and rides him bareback across the marshes of Camargue and over the sparse dunes to an island where horses and children coexist as friends forever. This is an equally poignant and truly enchanting film that will captivate children of all ages.

G. Merritt

5 out of 5 stars

Bittersweet beauty May 15, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

A companion to the same director's classic "The Red Balloon," this exquisite film probably wouldn't be made for children today ... and that's a pity. Children, simply by being younger, smaller, and weaker than the adult world around them, are already well aware of cruelty. They all understand what it is to be bullied, to be targeted for being different, to have to fight when they'd rather just be left alone. "White Mane" presents this fact of life not brutally, or mercilessly -- but honestly.

And it offers more, as well. The lyrical beauty of the film, the gorgeous black & white photography, the astonishingly expressive face of the boy Folco, all remind us that if there's unfairness in the world, there's also something sublime & deeply moving in it as well -- if only we look for it & see it. And it offers the consolation of art, and of storytelling itself.

I understand the misgivings of some regarding the film's ending. It's ambiguous at best, a harsh reminder that the sensitive of this world are often hounded by those who don't (or won't) understand them, and thus do their best to destroy them. But children can't be protected by denying that sad fact. If anything, a film like this probably enables them to deal with it better.

Adult viewers will savor the poetry, but also shake their heads in doleful recognition. It's a poignant gem of a film, most highly recommended!

5 out of 5 stars

Riding off August 19, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

A beautiful short French movie. The literal story is of a boy in the Camargue who befriends a wild white pony and rides off, away from the stark real world. A cinematic piece of poetry. (I think this is better in the original or at least un-dubbed version.)

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