The Mustang is like a breath of fresh air. Different than Marvel or horror movies “The Mustang” shows the power of how equine therapy and a human-horse connection save lives. With a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie based on true events, starts with a herd of wild mustangs and sounds of those hooves hitting the dry Nevada desert.  Overhead helicopters are leading the herd into pens located on prison grounds. This beautiful herd that once formed clouds of dust on the desert ground is now captured in a pen, unleashing majestic violence and confusion. This family is being separated, the horses which are led away will be slaughtered, and the lucky ones remanding will have the opportunity to be tamed and sold into finding a good home.

We meet Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts) the protagonist of the movie, he’s been in jail 12 years; however, he refuses to talk about what happened. Roman is required to participate in an “outdoor maintenance” program as part of his state-mandated social rehabilitation. Roman and his “given to tame” horse have a rocky start. Eventually both learn to trust and find hope in one another. Throughout this, Roman’s daughter pays him regular visits but, she’s angry at him mainly because she’s upset because of his absence in her life. As he continues to tame Marcus, the name he gave his horse, peace is coming to him. Like him, Marcus is finding peace as well by learning to trust and learning the value of a real human-horse relationship.

The saddest moment in the movie was when it came time for all the Mustangs to be sold off to their new homes. Although this movie mainly focused on Roman and Marcus, other prisoners bonded with their horses as well, the end was full of painful goodbyes. This story perfectly captures two souls, both lost, full of anger and trying to find their way, their purpose.