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BMZ Review: Ride Around the World
By Ann Coates

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Wild Ride
Written by: Ann Coates
Source: Big Movie Zone
Date: May 2, 2007

Category: Reviews

Formerly Ride Around the World, the newly titled Wild Ride contains a new script and new narrator in order to focus more on the action-oriented elements of the film. Though relaunched with this new sound mix, the picture itself remains the same, retooled with a more American and manly voiceover. The previous version containing a Latina narrator will still be available, and for the most part, the latter version remains true to the original: it sets out to study horse cultures of the world in an informative and entertaining manner.

Directed by Harry Lynch, the film opens with the familiar: modern trucks and the American cowboy. Featuring the Four Sixes Ranch, we learn that the American version of the cowboy is only the latest of several incarnations of the cowboy; all developing from the warring horsemen of Morocco. Ride offers a wealth of information as it travels around the globe, commenting on the origins and progression of cowboys. A polished documentary, the film is robust in its horse knowledge as the cowboys themselves.

Since little has changed in horse culture, the film is able to feature the traditional way of life of many of its participants. The Moroccan roots of horsemen are still upheld, similar to the cowboys found in Spain, Chile and Mexico. The traditional clothing and culture provides the film with its incredibly authentic feel. We learn how the Moroccan horsemen traveled to Spain and became the Spanish conquistadores eventually spreading to Mexico, Argentina and North America.

The film spends a considerable time in each country offering extensive information on the development not only of the horsemen themselves, but of their gear, their work and traditions. One particularly fine sequence concerned the vaqueros of Mexico, who in their rodeo, feel more like expert dancers than cowboys as they rope and ride horse and cattle. Naturally, Ride also provides the viewer with some incredible scenic images, a feature so prevalent on Large Format films -- from vast plains where horses run freely to rocky mountainsides where they must carefully maneuver their way down.

The film then acts as a testament to the enduring quality of cowboy culture, spreading beyond its Moroccan origins to touch every corner of the world. A solid film, Ride offers just the right amount of inspection into a cowboy's rugged lifestyle unified with some insightful commentary.