The Mustang

More than 100,000 wild mustangs still roam free in the United States. To regulate the horse population, the Bureau of Land Management captures several hundred, and a few dozen are sent to prisons where they’re trained by inmates and then sold at public auction, often to police departments for border patrol. In rural Nevada, inmate Roman Coleman (Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts), incarcerated for domestic violence, has just been released from solitary confinement. When interviewed by the prison psychologist (Connie Britton), tight-lipped Coleman reluctantly admits, “I’m not good with people.” As part of his state-mandated social rehabilitation, he’s assigned to an “outdoor maintenance” program. Spotted by a veteran trainer (Bruce Dern), Coleman is accepted into the selective wild horse section, where he meets a crazed, seemingly unbreakable stallion. Coleman immediately identifies with the horse’s ferocity and fury and starts reading equestrian magazines. Left in the dusty ring with the mustang, Coleman takes more than a few tumbles as his frustration erupts into violence. Another inmate (Jason Mitchell) tells him: “If you want to control your horse, first you gotta control yourself.” That leads Coleman into an anger-management session in which the inmates confess that acting on impulse is what led to their imprisonment. Meanwhile, Coleman’s pregnant daughter (Gideon Adlon)—who he’s been estranged from for years—asks him to sign some legal papers. At first, he refuses to talk with her, but gradually they begin to communicate. Directed by French filmmaker Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and executive produced by Robert Redford, this meditative redemption tale is recommended. (S. Granger)