At the age of 12, I read the first book of this trilogy of Mary O'Hara. I lent the books at the school-library, and somehow i still got them (17 years later). The books were old, had a wonderful smell, and i had this ritual of listening to the soundtrack of "Days of Thunder" while reading the books every night on my bed. This is the memory from my childhood that i remember and value the most of all. The way O'Hara described Wyoming and the life on the farm, with the horses, the nature, the interaction between the family-members... I have never, even since, had a reading-experience like that (and I study literature at the university). It made me want to go to the US and settle in Wyoming. It was a world that embraced me all the way. It made me dream of certain actors that could realize these novels (at that time, in 1990, Mel Gibson was the perfect Rob for instance...). I found out that it would have been best to make a series of them, because all the parts in the books were so important for the good experience you get, that they would have to be included. I have always dreamed of these books to be realized on screen. But I was also afraid that someone would pick up the idea and tell the story from the books in a wrong way. And guess what happened? Last week I got a dog. Wonder why I called him Chaps? Exactly. So, today I went to the local café and found the Flicka-movie. I can tell you all I was surprised, I hadn't even heard of the movie. I brought it home, and now I've seen it, well, it's almost impossible to describe how betrayed I feel. It actually hurts inside. I don't think I was that hurt even when my boyfriend left me. What?! Who would destroy and Hollywoodify this beautiful novel? I'm so shocked I just had to write. I guess the movie could have been good if it didn't have the references to the novels of Mary O'Hara, but it does, and that just totally break my heart. Didn't the producers or the directors or anyone that had anything to do with this film-production ever read the three novels? This is a production that belongs in the trash-can. The only aspect from the novels they almost got to work, was the "Green Grass of Wyoming". But, Rob isn't quite like that! Ken is not a girl. The interaction between the family is totally misleading. Gus WAS Swedish, so why not let him be that? The wrong story on the name of Flicka. And then to commit the awful crime to mix Flicka with Thunderhead!! I can't believe what certain people are able to do just for the cause of making dirty, commercial money. To press this wonderful story down to a 90 minutes production I consider impossible to do, and if not impossible, it would take a great work of art to make. 20th Century Fox has dishonored and totally stabbed in the back the author of the books, the characters in the books, the name Flicka, and all the readers who ACTUALLY have read the books and know what they are like. Shame on you!!! You really make my heart bleed.
Review of Flicka
