‘Out Stealing Horses’ Is A Beautiful Rumination On The Nature Of Tragedy [Review]
Distilling Per Petterson’s complex, non-linear, acclaimed Norweigan novel “Out Stealing Horses,” writer-director Hans Petter Moland’s (“Aberdeen,” “Cold Pursuit”) film of the same name is a visually rich rumination on the multi-generational traumas that spiraled out of World War II. Named after an innocent child’s game, in which protagonist Trond and his friend Jon distract and ultimately jump on untamed horses to ride them, Moland’s film acutely utilizes the framework of a coming-of-age tale to explore how youth distorts relationships, providing outsize significance to minor events and how age doesn’t necessarily relate to the emotional ability to cope with tragedy.