The Man from Coxs River (2014) User Reviews

Unusual, but fascinating documentary

[marklear-1 · 8/10 · 23 June 2014]

This is a great story about managing wild horses (brumbies) in a vital water catchment within a National Park and World Heritage Area. We meet several passionate people, including a most engaging bush horseman (from a family who have lived in the Cox's River area for several generations), a National Park ranger, and some of their friends and colleagues. It is great to travel with them, even for viewers (like me) who know very little about attracting and mustering horses. The country where they are working is very spectacular, and, if you are unfamiliar with the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (in New South Wales, Australia not far west from Sydney), it would pay to check out a map prior to seeing this film to see where Cox's River, Katoomba, Megalong Valley and Lake Burragorang are. The cinematography is good, and worked well on the very large screen in the cinema where we saw it. Occasional use of a shaky hand-held camera can be easily forgiven in the circumstances where it was used. I felt that we are seeing a particular set of skills we may not see again. The scenes of the horses near the end of the film, and the information provided about the people (also at the end) are very well done. This must have been a challenging undertaking, both for the horse handlers and the film team.

Wild horses in the Wild Dog Mountains

[harryloots · 7/10 · 26 April 2014]

"The Man from Coxs River" is a great documentary about the recovery of feral horses, escaped pit ponies from the Blue Mountains National Park. It features some scenes from Charles Chauvel's, "Sons of Matthew". The correlation: what to do about the horses. This film should appeal to bushwalkers, conservationists and horse people alike. The documentary has the feel of being in the bush, sitting round the campfire, experiencing the danger of being close to wild horses, being with bushmen who are able to deal with these horses and the National Parks rangers. There is a great deal of empathy shown for the plight of the horses and their wild nature. These are horses that have never been near people and are quite desperate to escape.