Secretariat Review: A MUST see!

My sister Valerie and I went on a lunch/movie date to see The Secretariat. I could not wait to share my thoughts with you about it.
I had great expectations for this movie after seeing the previews. I was totally stoked for the costuming alone, but I have always loved a great movie about a true story.  There is so much negativity in our society, and so much emphasis on violence, I feel like these stories are the "anti-violence".
This was absolutely one of the most beautifully filmed movies I have ever seen. The main scenes switch back and forth from Denver, Colorado to Doswell, Virginia.  I am such a huge Virginia history buff that I loved how the Virginia scenes were portrayed.  The location filming took place in Kentucky and Louisiana, which makes sense with its history in horse racing.  I loved the camera angles and details used in the actual filming process.
There are two main aspects to the movie that I found very compelling.  One, the main character is the story itself and not any one person or even the horse. The director draws you into each individual portrayed and allows you to see the entire situation from many different perspectives.  I found myself relating to the Penny Chenery story just as much as Jack Tweedy (who plays her husband), and the sassy secretary, and even the children of Penny.  You see so many sides of the story within this little movie.
The other thing that struck me as the more important aspect is this: Penny takes on the "big boys" of horse racing/owning in a time when women were expected to be running their homes. Exclusively.
Penny Chenery decides to expand her parents farm upon the death of her mother and father, rather than sell and pay huge inheritance taxes. This shows a sacrifice she makes on behalf of her husband and children, but the most intriguing side of the story is that she is never portrayed as forcing any of her family members to accept this (with the exception of her brother, who comes around). I love that the script is never reduced to man-bashing or a forcefully feministic ideal.  Instead, she is shown as a strong woman, who has the best for her husband and family at heart, as well as the strength to stand up to the horse racing community just by virtue of being present, and taking hard risks.  I strongly feel that every parent of daughters needs to take their girls to see this movie.  They will see an example of a true lady, and one that never resorts to name calling or bullying the opposite sex.
So, the part of the movie that first drew me in, the costuming was WONDERFUL! I loved seeing all the unique pieces used for so many characters.  The story takes place in the 70's-80's, and so much of what I saw reminds me of my own childhood. I am a vintage-holic, so now I want to be like Penny Chenery. :)  Here are a few of the costumes (the costume designer for Diane Lane was Julie Weiss, and the rest of the characters were done by Michael T Boyd):

On an interesting side note, the real life Secretariat lived for 19 years, and upon death, was found to have had a heart twice the size of a normal thoroughbred.