Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is a 1991 American film by Walt Disney Pictures starring Gabrielle Anwar, Michael Schoeffling, Cliff Robertson, Kathleen York, and Dylan Kussman, about the Horse Diver, Sonora W. Carver. The film was based on her memoir, A Girl And Five Brave Horses.
Sonora Webster is growing up in rural Georgia during the height of The Great Depression. Times are tough and she escapes her harsh reality by dreaming of being a star in Atlantic City. On the same day her aunt informs her she will be sending her to an orphanage to ease the family’s burdens (and the constant stress of Sonora’s antics) she sees an ad for “diving girls” in the paper. Rather than become a ward of the state, Sonora runs away to answer the ad and seek the life of adventure she’s always dreamed of.
This Film Provides Examples Of:
- Belated Injury Realization: Sonora insists she doesn’t need a doctor after the accident and that she just needs to let her eyes rest for a bit. It’s only a few days later when her vision goes completely out that they call for a doctor, who confirms that her retinas have detached and her condition is permanent. He scolds her for not coming to him immediately when he still could have done something to help her.
- Blind Mistake: Sonora makes several of these while learning to handle her environment with her new disability. She starts to do pretty well, dressing and preparing for the day all by herself, but manages to put one on red and one green sock. She laughs about it and claims she’s making a new fashion statement.
- Break the Cutie: Everything is going perfect for Sonora: she’s a star in Atlantic City and Al proposes in front of a huge crowd at their first show. Then the noise of the band spooks the horse and Sonora hits the water with her eyes open, blinding her.
- Break the Haughty: Marie dislocates her shoulder in a riding accident and has to watch her stable girl take over the show. When she demands that she be given a pay raise, a larger dressing room, and a redesigned poster proclaiming her the star of the show, Dr. Carver calls her bluff and tells her to go be an actress like she’s always bragging she will be if she wants all that stuff. When she returns a few years later to fill in after Sonora gets hurt, she claims she was on the verge of being cast in a movie, but it's obvious she's lying.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: As Dr. Carver tries to explain to Sonora why she’s not cut out to be a diving girl, he points to a poster of Marie and lingers around her chest as he stammers that Sonora doesn’t have “enough.”
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After her accident, Sonora snaps at Al every time she feels he is helping her too much. She even goes so far as to try and call off their wedding, accusing him of marrying her out of pity.
- Foreshadowing: Sonora asks Al if the horses ever get hurt. Al responds they don’t, but riders do. He also warns Sonora to turn her face away as she hits the water. Her failure to do this is why she goes blind.
- Horse Jump: The central death-defying feat of the film is horse diving, a real-life carnival stunt from the early 1900s.
- At the beginning of the film, Sonora jumps a fence with the family horse to win a dare. It doesn’t go well and she releases the cows. Her aunt is so enraged she sells the horse and tells Sonora she will be turned over to the state to be raised in an orphanage.
- I Never Got Any Letters: Al writes to Sonora every day while he is gone, but Dr. Carver hides the letters from her, leading her to ask Al why he never wrote.
- Important Haircut: Sonora chops off her hair to try and look more like the glamorous woman in her poster for Atlantic City.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dr. Carver talks rough to his workforce and is near cruel in his training of Sonora. But he cares deeply about them and is determined to take care of them through the tough times.
- Moody Mount: Lightning is unbroken and easily spooked when Al brings him to the ranch. Sonora proves her worthiness to be a diving girl by taming and bonding with the horse enough to ride him.
- Only the Chosen May Ride: Marie foolishly mounts Lightning and gets a dislocated shoulder for her trouble.
- Plucky Girl: When she is determined to achieve something, Sonora is absolutely unstoppable.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Marie constantly reminds everyone around her that this gig is just a stepping stone to her real calling of being an actress. When Al brings her back to fill in after Sonora’s accident she insists she was in the process of being cast for a big movie role, but dropped it to help her old friends.
- Training Montage: Twice. First when Sonora learns how to mount a horse in motion, and again when she relearns to do it blind.
