Dream Horse ★★★

Director: Euros Lyn

Cast: Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, Owen Teale, Peter Davison, Siân Phillips, Joanna Page

Released: 4th June 2021 in UK Cinemas

We all love to dream, and maybe one day those dreams will become a reality, and then perhaps that story will become a movie. After its Sundance 2020 premiere last year, Dream Horse is making its debut on the big screen.

The film follows the true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely racehorse bred by small-town local Jan Vokes (Toni Collette). With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbours to chip in their meagre earnings to help raise Dream and compete with the racing elites. Their investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks and becomes a beacon of hope for their struggling community.

Within Wales the community is everything in some parts, and Dream Horse shares this with the world. It is a simple crowd-pleaser that will restore your faith in humanity. Euros Lyn pushes on the message that if you can dream it, you can achieve it. As the film opens up, you can sense the mundanity of life with a bit of added cheese, but the warm embrace of this journey soon shrugs away that feeling.

The soul of Dream Horse is what makes it an embracing experience. Wales has an abundance of close communities, and their commitment and love for each other are what makes me such a proud Welshman. They are there for you during the highs and lows within life and will always have your back. What this group did is astounding and to hear about their journey is utterly inspiring. Euros Lyn captures that essence of being Welsh so well, and in the Welsh language, we would call this ‘cymuned clos’-close community.

As the Manic Street Preachers and the Supper Furry Animals bolsters this strong Welsh identity, we have to talk about Toni Collette. Her Welsh accent actually was persuasive, and her passion for the story can be felt throughout the runtime. She is the rock of the syndicate and keeps the spark alive during the film. While Collette carries a vast amount of weight the films does lose momentum and can drag. The film needs that love/hate balance but it does feel too kind for its own good at times.

Dream Horse shows how the power of cinema can grapple with your emotions and inspire you to reach for the skies. It may be a bit corny, but damn, it was a lot of fun.