Here's a beautifully filmed "horse opera" about a New York teenage girl (Scarlett Johannsson, who is now a well-known actress but wasn't when this was made) and her horse, both of whom are badly injured in a mishap and are healed by a Montana horse expert, played by Robert Redford.

Redford also directed this film and being such an outdoors-man, you know this is going to show nature in a beautiful way....and it does. The Montana scenery is just awesome.

After a dramatic opening scene in which we see the horse and daughter hurt, the mother (Kristin Scott-Thonas) takes the girl and the horse out West to see if the horse can be salvaged. Unfortunately, the mother - who is married - falls for the horseman "Tom Booker" (Redford) and an adulterous relationship almost comes to fruition. That romance is the soap opera part of the film but it's nice to see everyone, including Redford's character, healed of emotional as well as physical wounds.

Some of the teen's bad attitudes are not fun to watch, but otherwise the people in here are very nice. Ranchers Redford and Chris Cooper and Cooper's sons are all nice people, especially of one Cooper's little kids. This film is a bit too much of a melodrama at times which makes it a long in spots, but it's a long movie to begin with (169 minutes). It's so beautifully filmed, however, that for that alone the movie is worth seeing.

Annie MacLean (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a bossy editor at a magazine and facing accusation of misconduct in her job. Her daughter Grace (Scarlett Johansson) goes riding her horse Pilgrim with her friend Judith (Kate Bosworth). An accident leaves them run over by a truck. Judith is killed while Grace loses a leg and Pilgrim suffers traumatic injuries. Annie is stubborn and dismayed at Grace's depression. She tracks down Montana rancher Tom Booker (Robert Redford) or the Horse Whisperer to help. She drags Grace and Pilgrim to Montana despite her husband Robert (Sam Neill),Grace and Tom's objection. She surprises Tom at his range where he lives with his brother Frank (Chris Cooper),Frank's wife Diane (Dianne Wiest) and family.

It's a very interesting start. It's a nice family drama for almost an hour. There is a lot of good family relation dysfunction set up. Then they get to Montana and Redford slows everything down. I don't ride and the horse whispering doesn't appeal to me. There is some beautiful slow whispering but the mother takes away too much of the focus. The mother's development goes into an unnecessary place. It only takes the story away from the daughter. The family dysfunction is still good but it just devolves into something less compelling. It spends too much time on unnecessary and distracting issues.

The Horse Whisperer in indeed a very beautiful movie, with wonderful landscapes in Montana and supported by a magnificent first class cast. Although a little bit long and moralist film, it has a perfect timing, the viewer does not get bored and the situation is credible. The plot is based on a teenager girl who suffers an awful accident with her horse and her best girlfriend. After this accident, the girl loses one leg and her spirit, and her horse becomes wild and violent. Her well prepared and career devoted mother Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas),an editor of a magazine, decides not to sacrifice her daughter's horse, and tries to heal it, using the expertise of Tom (Robert Redford),a horse trainer. She leaves her husband (Sam Neil) in New York for a period, and moves to Montana with her daughter, towing a trailer with the injured horse. There, in Tom's ranch, not only the horse, but other wounds in the breast of her family will be healed. However, Tom and Annie will fall in love for each other, but the end of the romance will be too much moralist for the present days. Looks like the moral principles in those movies in the 40's and 50's. But perfectly credible! The movie has a great and long continuity mistake. Tom and Annie are riding horses and from the upper shots, Annie is wearing hat. In the closes, inserted between the upper shots, she does not have any hat . In the end of their ride, the hat appears on her shoulder. The accident scene, in the beginning of the movie, has too much cuts. Maybe an induced accident (like in Mary Lambert's 'Pet Sematary' ) would be more appropriate. But these last comments and remarks do not affect the quality of this enjoyable movie. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Encantador de Cavalos" ("The Horse Whisperer")