Film Quote of the Day: The 1998 Robert Redford Line That Turns a Simple Truth Into a Life Lesson

Today, for Robert Redford's birthday, I thought we'd take a look back at one of his movies that I think doesn't get enough credit.

To call it sweeping is an understatement; it's a movie he chose to shoot in two different aspect ratios, one of which is nearly three hours long and has some of the most underrated cinematography of all time.

I'm talking about The Horse Whisperer. It's a quiet film about life, loss, regret, love, and all the other emotions that go into having a full experience as a person.

Now, in this long movie, there is a quote I think pulls double duty. It advances the immediate plot and reaches beyond the screen, tugging at our hearts, too.

Let's dive in.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The Scene in Question

Okay, so in this movie that both stars were in and was directed by Robert Redford, we open on a tragedy involving two little girls, one being Grace (Scarlett Johansson).

They're out horseback riding, and Grace's horse slips and drags her down the trail. She's then almost run over by an 18-wheeler, and the horse gets in the way, getting hit.

We then cut back to Annie MacLean (Kristin Scott Thomas), a driven Manhattan magazine editor, who is Grace's mother.

She's at the hospital, and we learn Grace will lose her leg. The horse is injured, but Annie spares its life, too overwhelmed to put it down.

In order to cope with the lost leg and all of the drama, Annie uproots her life and drives across the country to Montana with Grace and the injured horse, Pilgrim.

Both of these creatures are deeply traumatized.

Desperate to heal them both, Annie tracks down Tom Booker (Robert Redford), a legendary horse trainer known for working with damaged animals.

I am sure you can see the metaphor forming, but he also does wonders for Grace, too.

Tom begins the slow process of rehabilitating Pilgrim. This is a horse with a lot of issues, both physical and mental. And the deeper Tom grows to Pilgrim, the more his reach extends into the family that brought him there.

While Tom is a man of few words, the ones he does say hang in the air as absolute truths. In one scene, when he is out riding with Annie, he delivers the core of the film.

“Knowing is the easy part; saying it out loud is the hard part.”

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

What The Quote Means

This is one of those quotes that comes with a stunning backdrop of both plains and mountains. There's a wildness to it that directly contrasts with the lives the characters have been living and opens them up to new ones.

So why does this quote cut through all that to the core?

Well, we see it strike down Annie’s intellectual defenses. She is a control-oriented executive who is always analyzing problems and making deals based on research and facts. She knows her daughter is slipping away and that the injury has taken her confidence, like the horse. She also knows her marriage is collapsing under the weight of grief; it cannot carry what has happened to their family.

But Annie is so scared about how this will leave her in the future.

And yet, she can't muster the courage to say it out loud, because she is also afraid that it will manifest, too.

Lessons For A Writer or a Director

What I love about this movie the most is that over the three hours, we get a few really important lessons for writers and directors.

The first I'd bring up is vocalization.

Can a character actually know what's wrong with them? Do they understand the faults of their life, and what are they doing to overcome them?

Is saying the problem loud enough? Can we see them finally recognize it and deal with it head-on?

This fits perfectly into the idea of subtext. What happens when you make that subtext a topic of conversation?

Tom Booker’s effectiveness as a trainer comes from reading body language and instinct rather than spoken demands.

If a horse acts out of whack, he uses a rope; when it's calm, he gives them a treat.

Tom recognizes that both horses and people use internal noise to hide from reality. By pointing out how hard it is to speak the truth, he isn't accusing Annie; he’s giving her permission to drop the mask.

And that's also permission for the writer (the great Eric Roth) to say the subtextual things out loud, too.

Summing It All Up

The Horse Whisperer works in this moment because it relies on simplicity in both saying the quiet part out loud and letting the audience determine how it affects the character.

As filmmakers, it's a useful reminder to work all the subtect in ,and then find ways to let it out too, if needed.

Let me know what you think in the comments.