What do a listless store clerk and her depressed mining town have in common? They both find a solution to their chronic doldrums in the excitement of owning a racehorse. Dream Horse is the story of Jan Vokes, a Welsh woman who has lost her identity. She is married to a once gregarious man who’s lost his job and retreated into farming reality TV, and she works at the local co-op where she alternates between cashier, stock clerk, and janitor, and she also works in a pub in the evening. As a result, she finds herself traveling in endless circles, doing the same things, day in and day out. She looks longingly at the plans she had as a young woman for great and exciting things and sees just how far she’s wandered from them. So when she overhears a bar patron telling his mates about a “horse syndicate” he was in, she hatches a plan to head one up for her town—anyone who wanted to put in a “tenner a week” to own shares in a racehorse. Thus begins the story of Dream Alliance, the racehorse owned by the people of the Welsh Valley, and how he helped the entire town out of the muck in which they had been mired.
This month, Eve and I are reviewing the 2020 movie Dream Horse. This is a fictionalized retelling of the Sundance Film festival documentary award winner Dark Horse and relates Jan and Brian “Daisy” Vokes’s story and their adventures in breeding and raising the racehorse named Dream Alliance. Along the way, Dream Alliance becomes more than just a racehorse. Instead, he becomes a symbol around which the depressed town rallies. Dream Horse stars Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, and Owen Teale. It is directed by Euros Lyn and features music by Benjamin Woodgates.
Initial Impressions
Since Dream Horse is based on both an award-winning documentary and a true story, Eve was able to do some research before seeing the movie. (I prefer to come into movies like this ignorant.) These differing perspectives allowed us to come to the movie from different places.
The music by Benjamin Woodgates fits the movie very well. It’s properly matched to the scenes and feels authentic to the Welsh where appropriate. It complemented the feelings that the director wanted to instill in the viewer well. While the movie is PG and exceedingly clean by secular standards, there are some worldview considerations that you should be aware of going in. The story is based around the breeding and racing of a horse, so gambling is portrayed in the movie. A few scenes take place in the local pub, and a few raucous shenanigans take place there. There wasn’t any swearing by American standards, but there might have been some Welsh swearing that we missed.
Dream Horse was based on a recent true story, and the during-credits scene compares the actors to their real-life counterparts to awe-inspiring results. The actors superbly matched the people they were portraying. In addition, the supporting cast and rest of the syndicate were all unique characters who walked the line between authenticity and stereotype very well.
As far as “based on a true story” movies go, Dream Horse feels more true to the source material than any movie we’ve seen before. The changes made had a purpose and served the framing and presentation. For example, the director compressed time, and many of Dream Alliance’s races are skipped entirely or only referenced in passing.
Overall, we all came out of the theater with a sense of satisfaction, like a good meal with excellent company.
Monotony versus purpose
The opening scenes of Dream Horse drive home the monotonous life that Jan finds herself in. Day in and day out, she has the same routine. The same walk to work, the same tasks at the co-op. We learn quickly that this frustrating monotony is a primary motivation for her foray into the world of horse breeding. I think it is safe to say that we have all experienced this at some level—a sense that nothing we do has any impact or purpose. That we are just stuck in a rut. The writer of Ecclesiastes did too.
When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
But then you get to the conclusion of Ecclesiastes the author reminds us that, no matter how we may feel, it is not meaningless.
When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: fear God and keep his commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
The point is that even with the apparent mind-numbing monotony of our daily grind, there is a purpose and—more importantly—a charge.
If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, (Philippians 2:1-5)
For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)
Do it for Hwyl!
When the initial members of the Dream Horse syndicate were first gathered to discuss the possibility of starting, Howard cautioned everyone: “One thing I must stress, above all else. If you do join, don’t do it expecting to make money.” He continued to encourage them, however, “So, do it for the ‘hwyl.’ That’s what this is all about.”
Hwyl is a Welsh term that means “a feeling of emotional motivation and energy.” The people at the meeting were already on the edge of desperation. The town industry had closed, and, like Jan, they were all living day to do without purpose. Many lived on government subsidies due to the area’s depression. If they were to get involved in the syndicate, Howard wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting into. It definitely was not a money-making scheme. Instead, it was a potentially exciting distraction.
But is this kind of thing okay for Christians? Well, that isn’t really for us to say, but when we go to scripture, we see some clear instructions for whatever we do:
Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24)
But it’s important not to get too invested in the less important work that isn’t necessarily kingdom-minded. More often than not, passions lead us away from God, not towards him.
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:1-3)
Jan of the Indomitable Will
Several times during Dream Horse, Dream Alliance’s performance almost hinges on Jan’s force of will. First, Dream Alliance is doing fine, but not great, then the screen cuts to a closeup of Jan’s face, and it is clear she is intensely focusing on the horse. Then you hear her say something like, “Go on, Dreamy boy.” Then Dream Alliance starts a remarkable burst of fantastic power. This is common in stories—not just movies, though it is easier to do more dramatically there. Through nothing more than sheer force of will, the hero or heroine can affect change in the world around him.
This all seems to lead back to the Hollywood staple messages of “Follow your heart” and “You can do anything if you put your mind to it.” But this isn’t the way the world works. Everything we receive, everything we do not receive, is all part of God’s sovereign will.
. . . so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)
Not everyone can get what they want—most of the time, our desires conflict with other people. What we need is to focus on God’s will and desiring to serve our Creator.
So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:17)
If what we want and what God wants are in sync, there is nothing we cannot do on this planet, no task that is too great for us.
Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)
No matter what Hollywood tells us, no matter how much we want something, no matter how much we concentrate on something, we cannot overcome the will of God. His will and His word formed all of creation. So our goal needs to be in serving that will.
At your rebuke the water fled;
at the sound of your thunder they hurried away—
mountains rose and valleys sank—
to the place you established for them.
You set a boundary they cannot cross;
they will never cover the earth again. (Psalm 104:7-9)
New Identity Through Faith
It appears, in both Dream Horse and the documentary Dark Horse, that Jan and at least some of the syndicate members codified an identity in their ownership of and the performance of Dream Alliance. This is important because it is completely wrong.
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Apart from Christ, we are cursed to try and “find ourselves” and fill a hole that we cannot understand. That hole is the direct result of the fall and the broken relationship with God. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we begin to see the connection between our sin and that hole. It may not ever be filled on this earth, but it will be filled. We will be made new and whole in Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 1:17)
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:2-4)
Conclusion
Dream Horse is based on a true story, and, for the most part, the movie is an accurate reflection of the people and the events surrounding Dream Alliance and his career. That makes it all the more important, though, that we heed the lessons that God’s word has for us regarding His will and our identity. So, enjoy yourself, seek the hwyl! But do not depart from the will of God and always remember that it is His will, first and foremost, that we serve—regardless of if we are living a roller coaster life, or the same thing every day.
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