HIDALGO
A beautifully shot race with strong violence and a pagan worldview.
Should You Watch It?
Hidalgo offers a striking adventure with real moral strengths. Frank is portrayed as a good man who rejects romantic advances, helps an enemy, and perseveres through physical suffering. The film is beautifully shot, and the acting is very good.
But those strengths come at a serious cost. The violence includes a massacre, horses pierced by pikes, beheadings, and cruelty. More troubling, the story treats American Indian spirituality as superior to both Islam and Christianity, using an Indian chant and Ghost Dance visions to resolve its central problem. Its disdain for Arab and English “pure breeding” also creates a reverse racism.
The answer is clear: discerning adults may find merit here, but this is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESFrank T. Hopkins, a trick rider in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and his mixed-breed mustang, Hidalgo, are challenged to enter the Ocean of Fire, a 3,000-mile race around the Persian Gulf.
Ridiculed for their mixed heritage, Frank and Hidalgo face Arab and English competitors in a contest involving endurance, cultural conflict, racial prejudice, and religious ideas. What begins as a race becomes a test of loyalty, courage, and perseverance.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means a worthwhile but flawed adventure. Hidalgo is beautifully shot, and the acting is very good. Its setting, action, and central horse-and-rider partnership give the film genuine sweep.
The plot meanders, however. Tighter editing could have made it a four-star movie. That improvement would not have resolved the film’s moral and spiritual problems, but it would have made the experience more focused.
The Worldview
The film presents American Indian spirituality as superior to both Islam and Christianity. It portrays Christianity and Islam as rotten, while Indian ghost dancers, an Indian chant, and visions of the Ghost Dance help Frank through the desert and solve the plot problem. The story also rejects the value placed on Arab and English pure breeding, but its response becomes a reverse racism rather than a biblical understanding of human dignity.
The film does contain moral strengths. Frank shows love for a neighbor, sacrifice, perseverance, loyalty, and restraint. He rebuffs the advances of women, helps an enemy, and is presented as a good man whose chief personal flaw is drunkenness. Yet the film’s moral vision cannot overcome its spiritual confusion. Scripture gives a more honest account of every people and every individual: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Pagan worldview touting false religious ideas from American Indians which also denigrates both Islam and Christianity and solves the plot problem through an Indian chant and visions of the Ghost Dance, as well as many moral points made, including love for your neighbor, sacrifice, and perseverance; three obscenities; lots of action violence, including Indians shot pointblank, the massacre at Wounded Knee, horses pierced by pikes, swashbuckling battles, man beheaded and head falls in front of hero, part of man’s hand shot off, man condemned to castration, and lesser violence such as falling off of horses and stunts; no sexual activity but light discussions of sex and man condemned to castration; no nudity; drunkenness several times; smoking and perhaps some hallucinogenic; and, blackmail, gambling, betrayal, and theft. GENRE: Western
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Frank helps an enemy and keeps his own counsel. What does loving a neighbor look like when that person has treated you as an enemy?
Matthew 5:44 · Luke 6:27–28The film connects perseverance with enduring a long and dangerous race. How does biblical perseverance differ from merely refusing to quit?
Romans 5:3–5 · James 1:2–4The story treats one spiritual tradition as better than others. How should Christians respond when a story presents false religious ideas as truth?
Acts 17:22–31 · 1 John 4:1Frank’s drunkenness is his chief flaw. What warning does Scripture give about drunkenness, and what kind of self-control does God desire?
Ephesians 5:18 · Galatians 5:22–23The Final Word
Hidalgo is a beautiful, well-acted adventure with courage, sacrifice, and perseverance at its center. Its violence and confused spiritual message make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For other family options, see.
