One of my earliest blogs was about Balto. If you don't know the story, this movie is based on the true story of the lead sled dog and mushers that traveled 674 miles through a blizzard to get antitoxin medicine to Nome, Alaska during an outbreak of diphtheria. Needless to say, the movie is embellished with an "overcoming prejudices" story line, but for children, I really think this addition was awesome, maybe even more now than then. This scene in particular is the climax where Balto feels he has failed to save the sick children of Nome. In previous events, he was shunned from being a sled dog because he is half wolf, not a pure bred husky (wonder where I've heard that before). Regardless, he travels to find the team when they have been reported missing to get the medicine to save one little girl in particular that showed him kindness. This scene is him coming to grips with, what he viewed as, a failed attempt at saving the team, and he is confronted by a white wolf that calls out at him to get up. At first Balto rejects him, probably because being half wolf has gotten him nowhere so far, but then he recalls what a friend told him before he left. "A dog cannot make this journey alone. But, maybe, a wolf can." And with that, he accepts his heritage and howls with the white wolf. As I got older and experienced prejudices of my own, this scene became even more relevant, but at the time, I just felt so touched by the music's accompaniment of Balto's acceptance of himself, a very empowering scene for me back then and even more now. James Horner was the composer and his music would be a big part in my life from then on. You'll be seeing a lot of him here.
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AuthorJust a description of my motivations for performing and teaching music. Archives
November 2016
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