Before Hollywood softened it into an inspirational spectacle, the story at the heart of Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken was something far more precarious: a young woman risking her life in a collapsing Depression-era economy, performing for crowds who paid to watch danger masquerade as entertainment. Directed by Steve Miner and anchored by Gabrielle Anwar’s portrayal of Sonora Webster Carver, the film introduces audiences to a world where survival, spectacle, and exploitation often blurred into one.

Adapted from Sonora’s memoir A Girl and Five Brave Horses, the narrative traces her journey from runaway teenager to star performer in a traveling diving horse act — a now-controversial form of entertainment that epitomized both the ingenuity and desperation of the Great Depression. Alongside co-stars Michael Schoeffling and Cliff Robertson, the film builds a romanticized yet compelling portrait of resilience, culminating in the life-altering accident that leaves Sonora blind — and the even more astonishing decision to return to the dive.

But as with many “based on a true story” films, the trailer itself offers a carefully curated emotional arc — one that raises critical questions central to MoviesToHistory’s Real vs. Reel lens. What does the film emphasize, and what does it omit? How does it frame disability, risk, and agency? And perhaps most importantly: what does it reveal — or obscure — about the ethics of turning real human (and animal) peril into cinematic inspiration?

Below, watch the official trailer for Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, and consider not just the story it tells — but the history it reshapes.

SCROLL DOWN AND WATCH THE OFFICIAL TRAILER!

Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken is available now with a subscription to Disney+…