“THE MUSTANG” My rating: B+
96 minutes | MPAA rating: R
A violent, alienated man and an equally angry horse form an unexpected bond in “The Mustang,” an understated effort that often plays like documentary but carries the emotional weight of a classic drama.
Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s film opens with a roundup of wild mustangs in a vast Western landscape. The animals are herded by helicopters into stock pens. From there they are loaded onto trucks.
Cut to a Nevada prison where Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts) has just joined the general population after months in solitary confinement. We never learn what he did to merit that treatment; all he’ll say is that he’s not good with people.
The prison psychologist (Connie Britton) struggles to get a word out of the sullen, withdrawn inmate. She’s trying to find a prison job or activity that will interest him. Finally she settles on the horse-training program, which takes recently captured wild mustangs and turns them into well-behaved riding horses that can be sold at auction.
Not that Roman overnight becomes a cowboy. His main job involves shoveling shit. But he’s intrigued by the violent horse that occupies a metal shed on the prison grounds. The animal inside spends all day banging on the walls and shrieking its defiance. It’s a kindred spirit.
The old hand who runs the program (Bruce Dern) believes the horse is too mean to be domesticated, but gives Roman — who has absolutely no background with these animals — a chance to train the beast. If it doesn’t kill him first.
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