The First Saturday in May

This is an AWESOME film! I was lucky enough to see it twice before - once at Delaware Park and then at SilverDOCS - and I'm going again. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cheer.... The Hennegans, aside from being great guys, are incredible film-makers.

Even if you're not an avid race fan, you will still get a lot out of this film. The Kentucky Derby is an internationally known sporting contest (the Queen even attended last year, for goodness sakes). No other movie shows the in-depth behind the scenes preparations that take place in getting a horse to the Derby. What also makes the movie so poignant is that it features some great scenes with ill-fated Derby winner, Barbaro. He was a true champion. The Hennegans handle his injury in the Preakness and his death with great sympathy, but they don't let it overtake the entire movie.

Go see this film if its playing near you, and if not make sure to get the DVD when its available!

Fabulous film that is more about people than horses. Tells a moving realty show of courage, skill and tenacity. Trainers overcome personal adversity (paralyses and M.S.),their wives bask in the excitement of the race-world (one is a jockey, another a fashion model), and the children can't resist cutting school to witness the race (one places a bet for the teacher, the other drops out to work full time at the stable). The by-line story of the rise and fall of famed horse Barbaro from the track is told with grace, respect and admiration. And the filmmakers' travel on-site to the tracks (including Dubai)coupled with the musical score add the spice and variety that make this film a sure winner.

"You have to do it with confidence." Michael Matz, Barbaro trainer

Out of the gate, the documentary First Saturday in May is a winner, whose neophyte directors, brothers Brad and John Hennegan, capture mostly the glamour of the kingly sport before and at Churchill Downs once a year. Although the editing is choppy, the camera angles uninspired, and the lighting weak—no doubt due to the fact that I saw it from projected DVD before prints were cast—it gently carries a romantic aura of the race to qualify and the big race.

This is the famous 2006 race with the incomparable, tragic winner, Barbaro. That the brothers had enough sense to spotlight this undefeated, favored thoroughbred is much in their favor; that the doc must end in the horse's eventual put down from a Preakness Stakes leg injury is a dramatic counterpoint to the upbeat scenario that went before it, a gift so to speak from the Fates to a film that could have been judged sugarcoated without the dark ending.

Prior to the big race the doc traces several stables and their trainers as they prepare to qualify for it or for the race itself. Notably from good ol' slow Kentucky boy Dale Romans looking for his first win to chatty New York assistant trainer Frank Amonte, whose kids take after him in accent and attitude but not in casual expletives from their dad every time he has a setback.

The usual goofballs are present on the day of the derby such as the rube with the spinning horses on top of his beanie and the chubby preadolescent kid who pulls a wad of money from his pocket while mom proudly exclaims, "Horses and poker, that's his thing right now." The doc doesn't need fancy photography to catch the regal nature of this all American event (notwithstanding an owner sheikh from Dubai). It's a winner.

Six trainers prepare for "The First Saturday in May" in this excellent 2007 documentary currently playing limited engagements in select theaters. The good news is that the producers, the Hennegan brothers, have found a distributor, and the film is due to be released on DVD.

The documentary follows the trainers of six horses who are close to qualifying for the 2005 Kentucky Derby, including trainer Matz and the horse he trains, Barbaro, whose story is well known. The trainers are all lively personalities from different parts of the country (Arkansas, Florida, New York, Kentucky). We get to know these men, their histories, their children and their love of horses. The statistics were interesting - of 40,000 foals born every year, only 20 make it to the Derby. Of these six, not all make it. And one who did meets a cruel fate.

There are laughs and tears to be had in this absorbing film. I'm not a particular fan of horse- racing - for the horses who aren't winners and put out to stud, it can be a horrible life. Racing young horses can cause harm to many an animal and has. Viewers, however, will be struck by the sheer beauty of these animals, their trainers' stories and the drama, pathos and humor of this documentary.

I saw this wonderful film at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and was so happy that it will be seen nationwide. During the "Q & A" after a Tribeca screening a youngish member of the audience asked a question that I thought, by virtue of its content, was the ultimate compliment that could be paid to a documentary. "What that based on a true story?", the young lad wondered. With docs you can never know going in whether there will be a story to tell. Nor can you know whether the characters have enough depth and substance to make the telling of the tale compelling. First Saturday's editing accomplishes both. The Hennegan brothers had me shaking my head as I left the theater wondering how they did it.