MovieChat Forums > Unbranded (2015) Discussion > Poor Cricket.

Poor Cricket.

posted 8 years ago by BlackDog123
6 replies | jump to latest

**spoiler**

Gosh, that made me tear up. Poor thing must have fallen in the dark and broken her neck. The only reason I didn't bawl my eyes out was because they talked about how it was a good death for a mustang, running free and not wasting its life in a pen. It looked like it was quick (maybe that's just what I want to think). The guys didn't seem to take it lightly, though I do wish they'd dedicated the movie to Cricket.

Anyways, beautiful movie. I went in with no expectations, and was extremely moved. I found all the guys likable, and I felt they treated the animals with compassion (this is coming from a bleeding heart vegetarian, btw). I don't think I'll be able to listen to Lord Huron for a while without choking up. The only thing I would change is to have the one guy who wanted to leave the last mile unfinished explain his motivation a bit more. I'm sure he had a good reason, but it was such a blow to his friends. 9/10

They're coming to get you, Barbara!

[–] justalottapage 8 years ago

I can't imagine how Cricket died of a broken neck. Horses are very skittish compared to mules and burros (I own all three), so I guess a horse could manage to hurt itself in any manner. Maybe she imagined something, became startled, and tripped herself up and landed on the ground ? I don't know, but it was sad especially for a horse used to living in the wild. Horses have great eyesight in the dark while burros do not - if it happened at night...

The one thing I didn't agree with was when he cut off Cricket's tail. Otherwise I enjoyed the movie very much. And I can't believe they rode on the Grand Canyon trail...too scary.

------

A sig is like the turd that won't flush.

[–] wilcox-145 8 years ago

I don't have a problem with the tail. A lot of people take some of their horse's hair as a piece of them when they pass. Granted, they don't usually take the whole thing, but the way I see it the horse is dead. Whether or not it has its tail makes no difference anymore.

[–] lovethesun 8 years ago

I totally understand why he took some of Cricket's tail. He stated in the documentary that he wanted Cricket to be able to make it all the way to the end of the trail. Makes perfect sense and I like the way he honored Cricket.

[–] heyz 8 years ago

He said that he left the last mile for good luck. I totally understand why he did it. An adventure like that through grand landscapes and huge mountains can be quite humbling. To me that was the most interesting and poetic part of the film and you could see how passionate he was about the whole thing. When you complete an adventure like this you can have an exuberant feeling like you've conquered the earth and nature. By giving up the last mile he chose to be smaller than nature. That's how I interpreted it. Some old cultures have a practice of adding imperfections to pieces of grand art while constructing religious buildings as a way of showing the imperfections of man against the greatness of god/spirit.

[–] pirateofthesage 8 years ago

My money is on colic. That country can go from warm days to really cold nights any time of the year. Combine that with the fresh grass and the horse not drinking enough, colic. And you can see where he had thrashed around on the ground.

[–] benman46 8 years ago

Aww bless.