EQUUS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Peter Shaffer, later the author of
AMADEUS, creates his densest and most complex film.
Richard Burton plays a psychiatrist treating a boy
who blinded horses in a fit of rage and
frustration. The ideas really go too fast to catch
all that is said. Rating: low +3 (-4 to +4)
Muhammed Vanker wrote to me saying that he could not find any reviews on the Internet for the film EQUUS (1977) and asked if I could point him to one. Well, the answer was no. There are probably a lot of major films from prior to the explosion of the Internet that have no reviews readily available. Though I had seen the film once in 1978 and only once again in the early 1980s, the film left a deep impression on me. In part because for years I said that the film, actually a play by Peter Shaffer makes a very good companion piece to another film by Peter's brother Anthony Shaffer, THE WICKER MAN. EQUUS is in part about the birth of religions, THE WICKER MAN is about the maintenance of religions. Possibly the third film should be INHERIT THE WIND, about the death of religions. In any case I sent Vanker the quick outline of what I would say if I were to review EQUUS. With that in place, I might as well go ahead and complete the review. These comments are based on memories of the film from at least thirteen years ago. Please excuse the brevity and perhaps even minor inaccuracies.
Richard Burton plays a psychiatrist (himself very troubled) who tries to get inside the mind of a sociopathic stable boy (Peter Firth) who has blinded the horses who were left in his care. The boy resists for a long time any cooperation with the psychiatrist, but finally does open up to reveal a troubled past. What Burton discovers is that the boy has is deeply disturbed but also has a mystical train of mind. The stable-boy has created for himself something like a religion (with strong sexual overtones) worshipping horses. The religion has its own ceremonies and the boy even turns the bits from the horses mouths into a sort of religious icons which he calls the "Jingle-jangle." The religion, however, cannot fulfill the boy and after an attempted sexual encounter that fails his utter frustration was release in the horse blinding. This scene, depicted in reenactment, is an intense scene in which angry boy lashes out against his god. The full frontal male nudity in the reenactment scene was rare in 1977 and quite shocking.
In some ways the play EQUUS is perhaps ill-suited for cinema since it is so dense in ideas that deserve considering. It is one film that would perhaps be better on video than in the theater. The viewer will be able to stop and even replay passages to think over their content and impact. The pace of ideas is so fast that you cannot think about one idea before the next one comes along. Still would have been really powerful with the immediacy of a stage performance. Richard Burton and Peter Firth in two main roles were both nominated for Academy Awards as was Peter Shaffer. The film was directed by Sidney Lumet who had previous directed several classics including TWELVE ANGRY MEN and FAIL-SAFE. This is, however, his most intense film and it rates a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
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