THE BRAVE ONE

 

The Brave One (1956)

I chose to end my evening with a late-night western film.  I had watched one earlier in the week - Man of the West (1958) - and felt like repeating the simple, easy-to-follow story westerns tend to feature. In westerns you usually know upfront the cast of characters and their roles in the plot. There is the good, bad, cowardly, and two-faced all on display, adding to the drama of the old west.

 

Well, when I chose “The Brave One” I was expecting just that, a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls in the wild west doing and saying things that make for a predictably, entertaining western movie. What I got was something much different.

 

“The Brave One” turned out to be a simple story from beginning to end. Instead of cowboys in gun battles and whiskey shot saloons filling the screen, the movie gives viewers a cute motherless child, along with his motherless calf who grows into a prize fighting Bull. 

Like I said, simple, melancholy, sweet story set in the old west of Mexico. And yet, with a title like “The Brave One” this sweet coming of age story was as much about strength, courage, and honor as any gunfight at a corral movie could be.

 

Take a poor young boy on a cattle-raising ranch in Mexico, with a love for animals. Give him a wise, widowed father and loving older sister. Let him experience the untimely death of a gift cow at the hands of nature, while at the same time a blessed birthing of a strong bull calf. And there is where the story of a motherless boy and bull calf becomes cemented in viewer's hearts.

 

By the end of the movie, I realize the title “The Brave One” refers as much to the little boy as it does the brave bull. For the boy is precocious and brave, demonstrating time and again his strength through convictions of love for his growing bull. When the boy runs through city streets, dodging the dangerous and chaotic Mexico City traffic with ease, it is as if he is the bull in the ring dodging and dancing with renowned bullfighter Fermin Riviera and his assistants. 

The boy has as much fight in him when trying to save his bull from the bullfighting ring, as the bull has in fighting to survive his sacrificial destiny and hopefully reunite with the boy.

 

As for the Bull’s love for the boy, it was demonstrated in a ferocious attack from a mountain lion, where the Bull protects his little friend by fending off and killing the would-be predator.

 

In the end, through strength and endurance, both boy and bull are successful in gaining pardons so they might live out their lives together as loving friends.  

 

The connection between the boy and bull is the draw and strength of this movie. The boy’s classroom teacher educates her students on the love and sacrifices of the Mexican President and his commitment to the poorer Mexican people. I believe this became a theme for young Leonardo; being committed and of service to someone or something you love, while becoming its protector.

 

One drawback on the movie is the aging of young Leonardo. His aging in the movie does not match the four-year aging of his bull-calf. Leonardo stays the same young boy throughout while the calf (Gitano) becomes a strong, mature bull. This was probably done because of the cuteness and connection his character brought to the movie. 

I would guess the story was not originally written to keep Leonardo that young. I reckon once the director and producers saw the magical bond between boy and bull onscreen, they saw the makings of a match made in heaven and stuck with it. This was a good call in that it allowed for the cutest of movie endings which pulled at the heartstrings. Hollywood at its finest. I'm also guessing the mature Bull was likely a cow in disguise, but against this city-boy the ruse worked completely.

 

Not all westerns are about how the west was won or lost. Some, like “The Brave One,” remind us of the strength and courage forged between a passionate child and his beloved pet. A simple story full of innocence, love, and courage.