Suitable for preteens and teens, BREAKING FREE is a mediocre, moralistic yarn that nevertheless provides a heartwarming alternative to the brain-dead material usually aimed at adolescents.
Teenaged Rick Chilton (Jeremy London) is arrested following an abortive convenience store robbery. At the Bancroft Boys Correctional Facility, Warden Mac Lawton (Nicolas Surovy) reluctantly hands Rick one last chance at salvation. At a nearby camp for blind kids, director Annie Sobel (Megan
Gallagher) needs an experienced stable hand. Rick takes the job while paying lip service to the regulations he is expected to uphold. Meanwhile, a neighboring wealthy rancher, Cal Morris (David Jensen), punishes his prize jumper, Ghost, after his wife is injured in a fall. Without permission but
with the complicity of Cal's ranch hand Buster (Jesse Bennett), Rick rescues Ghost, lying to Annie that Cal has donated the steed to the camp. Soon, Rick is giving horse rides to campers such as psychologically mute Billy (Adam Wylie) and spoiled ex-gymnast Lindsay Kurtz (Gina Phillips).
Rick seems to be turning over a new leaf. But when some of his delinquent cohorts show up, Rick breaks curfew to take Lindsay to a bar in town. Having disappointed Mac and Annie, Rick redeems himself by leading an overnight search for Billy, who got lost riding off by himself. Despite rescuing
Billy, Rick seems destined for the reformatory when the truth about stealing Ghost emerges. Yet, when Billy summons up the courage to speak, Rick is given another chance. Not only does he thwart Cal's attempt to shoot Ghost, but he also coaxes Lindsay out of her bitterness over being blinded while
training her as a show-jumper. When his bad-boy buddies arrive to spring him from his camp position, Rick chooses to remain with his newfound extended family at Annie's camp.
Overlong and predictable, BREAKING FREE has a few selling points: capable performances that convey the characters' shortcomings and triumphs without condescension; a screenplay that provides psychological ballast for all the emotional storms each character experiences; and a clear-headed,
nonpreachy approach to the story line about second chances for recidivist delinquents. Avoiding mawkishness in detailing the crises faced by its blind characters, BREAKING FREE engrosses within its limits and stands proudly by its cliches. For younger audiences who haven't been exposed to too many
"dead-end kids"-type coming-of-age pics, BREAKING FREE may prove to be an edifying study in overcoming emotional handicaps and learning that one's worst enemy can be a rash temperament. (Violence, adult situations, substance abuse.) leave a comment
