Movie 'Into The West' was released in 1992 through Miramax Films. Image by Miramax Films
Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin might be the big names in Into The West, but it is two little boys and a legendary horse that brings joy and magic into their lives that makes this movie a sparkling Irish gem.
‘INTO THE WEST’ – 1992
Starring Gabriel Byrne
Directed by Mike Newell
‘Into The West’ stars Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin, his wife at the time. Image supplied.
‘Magical realism’ sounds like an oxymoron, but it was spot-on when describing this film. Magical elements blend with realistic settings and events.
Filmed in Ireland and starring Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin, his wife at the time, it tells a tale of two young brothers, Tito and Ossie. They share a miserable existence on a grim council estate with their father (Byrne) who’s grieving the death of their mother who died giving birth to Ossie. Once “King of the Travellers”, Papa Reilly is now a bitter, depressed alcoholic.
Fortunately, bringing the boys a little brightness into their lives is their grandfather, an old story-telling traveller who regales them with folk tales and legends.
TRIVIA:
Irish travellers are gypsies, also known as tinkers, but they’re different from the Roma gypsies. Both lifestyles centre on nomadic life, but they are two culturally different groups.
The film begins with a lone grey galloping along a moonlit beach – a Lipizzaner schooled by celebrated French trainer Mario Luraschi. (He is also mentioned in Suzy Jarratt’s behind-the-scenes look at the movie Jappeloup. You can catch up on this in Equestrian Life, April 2021).
The horse was cued to run 200 metres from a distant mark to the camera. It was done in just one take.
These night sequences are the introduction of Tír na nÓg, meaning “Land of Eternal Youth” in Irish and, according to legend, this horse is from a magical undersea kingdom. In the following daytime scenes, it appears at the grandfather’s campsite and later follows him to Dublin.
This time the grey on camera is one of two Andalusians who did much of the other major horse work, together with a Connemara. Boden Park Colonel was a pony gelding who also appeared on some of the film’s posters being ridden by the two boys.
“According to legend,
this horse is from a magical
undersea kingdom.”
Filmed in Ireland, ‘Into The West’ tells the story of two young brothers. Image by Cola Images – Alamy Stock Photo
All were primarily handled by Luraschi’s protege, Joëlle Baland, who he had trained to be a stuntwoman when she was just 19. On this picture she had the horses doing some quite remarkable scenes.
When Tír na nÓg ends up at the gloomy tower block, the boys are thrilled; Ossie especially, refuses to be separated from him.
At bedtime the brothers squeeze the horse into the elevator and take him up to their apartment. The neighbours are appalled, but when their father wakes with a hangover to see a horse standing over him, he just groans and turns over.
“For all the various human elements, the comedies and tragedies and the plain mortal messiness, the heart of the story is the white horse,” the story’s author Judith Tarr says. “He’s a messenger from the Otherworld, the catalyst to break the family out of its cycle of grief and loss. He weaves the worlds together. Sometimes hilariously, sometimes incongruously, and sometimes with the cold pure purpose of all high magic.”
Inevitably there is confrontation and skullduggery. A dodgy police officer is instrumental in stealing Tír na nÓg; the boys then discover it is being show jumped by a brutal rider. In some dramatic scenes at the Dublin Horse Show the brothers run on to the arena, jump on its back and gallop away – they are off to the west pursued by the law and the media. And being devoted fans of westerns, they spend much of their time pretending to be cowboys.
“The heart of the story
is the white horse…”
The boys and their horse have quite an adventure. Image supplied.
In one very unlikely sequence they go into a movie theatre with the grey and spend the night eating popcorn and watching horse operas!
Funny and dramatic, the scenery is spectacular as Tito and Ossie ride into a winter landscape towards the sea. It’s a journey which connects them with their mother’s spirit, but which also heals their father’s broken heart.
Into the West is a classic of Irish cinema. “Texture is everything in a movie like this,” said Roger Ebert in his review. “The bare story itself could be simplistic and silly: Cops chasing a couple of kids on a horse. But when relationships are involved, and social realities, and a certain level of magical realism, then the story grows and deepens until it really involves us. Kids will probably love this movie, but adults will get a lot more out of it.”
TRIVIA:
Two years later, in 1994, Newell directed ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. The film was made in six weeks, cost under £3 million, became an unexpected success and the highest-grossing British film in history at that time with a worldwide box office total of $US245.7 million.
Into the West is available on DVD.
Next time in Horses and Movies, Horses: the Story of Equus, charting the life stories of three horses born on the same night. EQ
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