The Mustang Film Review

Horses change people. Period. Previously timid riders gain confidence and a feeling of empowerment. Physically disabled people can share a new swift, stride. The lonely feel loved. And in the film The Mustang, through a relationship with a horse, a man with a tormented past and seemingly hopeless future is transformed.

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I had an opportunity to attend a screening for the upcoming film The Mustang, produced by Robert Redford and directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Overall the film was enjoyable, possessing a positive message. The acting was top notch, and it was hard not to fall in love with the main horse, a spirited buckskin stallion.

The first thing that struck me as the film began was the beautiful scene of mustangs galloping, cavorting in the wide open spaces. It would make any horse lover’s heart leap. The mood shifts, however, when a helicopter blazes a trail through the sky in hot pursuit of the herd. Will the horses be okay? Will they escape? Will they be treated well at the hands of man?

As the frightened horses are pushed into pens and ultimately shoved into trailers that will whisk them away from their home, their freedom, Roman, a man in solitary confinement languishes in a Nevada prison. His facial expression alone tells a story without words–a story of pain, a dark secret and regret. His shuffling steps and grim expression resemble the broken spirit of an abused horse.

Matthias Schoenaerts, the Belgian actor who played the role of this supposedly hardened criminal did a fantastic job. I’m not kidding. His facial expressions show how tortured of a soul his character Roman was. (By the way, Schoenaerts was a romantic lead in the film Far From the Madding Crowd–I highly recommend!)

Through a turn of events, Roman is allowed the “privilege” to muck stalls for the mustangs, as his prison facility in Nevada hosts a special program allowing inmates the opportunity to train horses, making them useful to society. Once rideable  they are auctioned off to new homes.

One day while pitchforking poop (I really wanted to give him a more modern manure picker with narrower spaces between the tines), banging noises erupt from a pipe corral enshrouded in wood, like a tiny cabin stall and draw Roman in.

His curiosity gets the best of him and he dares to investigate the source of the sound. He finds a highly distressed, potentially dangerous buckskin stallion. And the connection between man and horse is made.

The cantankerous old cowboy who runs the horse training program is rude to Roman, but compared to the other authority figures in the facility, he at least offers a glimmer of hope in that if Roman proves himself doing barn chores well, he can possibly earn a spot to become one of the horse trainers.

One night a warden awakens Roman, stating he’s needed with the horses. He’s led down the corridor and out to the pipe corrals with the explanation a thunderstorm was a few miles away and they had to get all the horses to the safety of the kitchen.

That’s right, the safety of the kitchen.

I thought a kitchen seemed like a terrible place to use as a safe haven for riled up horses with all the pots and pans and possibly knives and glass–things that go clank and can cut you or burn you. The dozen or so prisoner cowboys ride out the storm with their charges, bunched up next to ovens and counters. (I wasn’t clear on why horses that have lived their whole lives out in weather needed to be brought inside to escape such weather, but that and the kitchen did not take away from my enjoyment of the story line).

The courage Roman displayed escorting the buckskin who he will later name Marcus or Marquis, earned him the respect of the cantankerous cowboy program leader and a chance to move up from mucking stalls to learning how to ride and train horses!

I won’t go into all the details so you can see the film for yourself and enjoy the ride, but I will say that as the mustang takes on a greater, more intimate role in Roman’s day to day life, Roman’s strained, bordering on antagonistic relationship with his daughter is transformed. As he gentles the horse, the horse returns the favor.

Another notable scene I want to bring your attention, that gave me all the feels is of the prisoner/trainers galloping across the open range. Smiles and exuberance abounds. Although at the end of the day the men will still be incarcerated, the moments they are in the saddle lend them a freedom they truly need. And if you’re someone who’s ever felt joy in the saddle or simply being in the presence of a horse, I think you will identify with them too. Horses are a portal to joy even when real life circumstances are not joyful.

Although this film is fictional, it is based on reality. There really are seven, maybe eight prisons across the U.S. in which prisoners have the opportunity to train horses which will then be auctioned off to everyday equestrians and in some cases the U.S government (police horses, border patrol horses, etc.). Fellow horse blogger Olivia from DIY Horsemanship has two awesome eventing mustangs she obtained via the Carson City  prison program represented in the film. Jamie Jennings from the popular podcast Horses in the Morning also owns two mustangs from Carson City. 

In the closing moments of the film, a few sentences explained how prisoners who participate in horse programs around the country have a much lower rate of re-offending than those not in the horse programs. I didn’t know this before going to see The Mustang, but I wasn’t surprised. After all, horses change people. Their trust in us, simplicity, and honesty are some of their finest characteristics (besides being beautiful, strong and fast).

 

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We’ll be in NY & LA this Friday, but will expand nationwide by 3/29! #TheMustang

A post shared by The Mustang (@themustangfilm) on Mar 13, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

The Mustang Film Fun Facts

And a touching finale was a “slide show” of several mustangs with their real life trainers. One of the minor characters in The Mustang was a man with long braids who looked to be Native American. He has a memorable scene at the auction when a horse is being loaded into a trailer to go to its new home. I won’t spoil the scene for you, but I found out after the film he is actually not an actor, but a farrier and he is a former prisoner himself.

Another fun fact is that the two horses used in The Mustang were actually Lusitano, and word on the street is one of them is boarded at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. A friend of a friend apparently owns him so I want to find out more about this intriguing horse actor.

The day after The Mustang screening, a group of Southern California based influencers was given a field trip of the mustang sanctuary Return to Freedom Ranch. We met one of the horses from the film, a striking roan named KoLa, and saw the horse who inspired the animators of the movie Spirit:Stallion of the Cimarron.

That day of experiencing the mustangs first-hand is worthy of its own separate blog post.

Overall, I would recommend The Mustang film. The story is one of hope and horses, and it’s not often we equestrians get to experience that combination on the big screen. And should the director ever decide to make a documentary about the real men who have trained mustangs in Carson City, I will jump at the chance to see that film too.

Your Turn: Thank you for reading. Do you plan to see The Mustang? What are some of your favorite horse films?

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