DREAM HORSE is based on a real feel-good story that occurred in a Welsh village ten years ago. Middle-aged couple Jan (Toni Colette) and Brian (Owen Teale) live there. She slaves away as a barkeeper in the local bar and takes care of her old parents every day. In the mornings a fleeting glimpse at the winner‘s certificate in pigeon breeding remind her of the hobbies she has no time for anymore. He has completely given up after a work accident and just looks at cattle breeding on the TV. The days seem aimless until Jan overhears a conversation at the bar about racehorse breeding. She buys an ailing mare and convinces 20 villagers who are also bored by the monotony of village life to start a breeding association. They call their first foal after their association “Dream Alliance“ and raise it in an allotment garden. The racehorse scenes make them look like underdogs, but the improbable happens: Dream Alliance turns out to be a talented racehorse and seems to be on the way to success. DREAM HORSE tries to do justice to the twists that the story took in real like (for more on this, watch the doc DARK HORSE – THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF DREAM ALLIANCE) while also not disparaging the original protagonists. This is also clear in the end credits, when the cast and the people they‘re based on appear together in high spirits, and you can compare how close the original is to the copy. This connection probably also led to conflicts getting swept under the rug and the abundance of maxims that are laid on thick. The result is a friendly British feel-good film with no edge.

Toni Ohms (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy