She continues: “The modern age of celebrity was dawning. In that passage Hillenbrand argues that by February 1937 the Depression’s “sweeping devastation was giving rise to powerful new social forces.” The author names two-“a burgeoning industry of escapism” and “technological innovations,” radio in particular.

Her analysis of the Great Depression, the crucial historical background for her work, fits into six paragraphs. Hillenbrand’s book makes pleasant enough reading, although it hardly creates a dent as serious cultural or social history. He becomes a national sensation in 1937, defeats the country’s most celebrated race-horse War Admiral in a head-to-head competition in November 1938 (without Pollard) and ultimately wins the most lucrative purse of the day in the Santa Anita Handicap in March 1940 (after enduring a career-threatening injury and with a seriously damaged Pollard on his back).Īny work of history, any illumination or distortion of the past serves purposes in the present. Seabiscuit unites them and ultimately offers a means by which they overcome their past failures and realize their dreams. As an adolescent, Pollard (Tobey Maguire) is cut off from his family in Canada and forced to make his way as a journeyman jockey and boxer. Horseman Smith (Chris Cooper) finds himself at loose ends after the Western frontier comes to an end and the age of the automobile dawns.

Howard (Jeff Bridges), a successful car dealership owner in San Francisco, loses a son in a heart-breaking accident and a wife to divorce. Seabiscuit follows the traumas undergone by the three central figures and their subsequent resurrection. Laura Hillenbrand wrote a best-selling account of the circumstances ( Seabiscuit: An American Legend) and Gary Ross has now filmed a version. Howard, trainer Tom Smith and jockey Johnny ‘Red’ Pollard-were also unusual and colorful figures.

The human beings around him-his owner Charles S. Something of an underdog, undersized and with a poor previous track record, he electrified crowds with his speed and fighting spirit. Seabiscuit was a race-horse who aroused great popular interest in the US in the late 1930s. Seabiscuit, written and directed by Gary Ross, based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand

Seabiscuit by laura hillenbrand