f Seabiscuit's rise from the depths, as well as his development, personality quirks, training, heart, racing prowess, and celebrity.
In the background of all is a master historical narrative, the Great Depression, which specifically bookends the film by way of period photographs showing manifestations of America's most far-reaching economic catastrophe--bread lines, teeming and dispirited masses, the one-third of a nation that FDR famously said was "ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished" (Leuchtenburg 231). So important is that narrative to Seabiscuit, indeed, that the film opens as if it were an American Experience documentary, complete with a resonant voice-over narration. In any case, the message that context helps explain narrative is duly delivered. That is itself explained by the concern of Laura Hillenbrand, author of the book on which the film was based, to show that the horse was something
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