The theme of redemption that the film wants to express is actually reconciliation and understanding. It is redemption in the spiritual sense, and may not necessarily be related to the direction of destiny in reality. Roman and The Mustang Marcus, two individuals who were originally in an isolated situation, now find similarities to each other, understand each other's situation in silence, and reconcile their minds, but they still have to continue sliding along the trajectory of tragedy.
The film ends with Roman freeing Marcus and seeing Marcus wandering outside the iron net to visit him during the confinement, which seems to be a happy ending for Ma and people to regain their freedom. But if you think about it carefully, the meaning of freedom here has been castrated, and it is still a typical tragedy. It has a predetermined fate, there is resistance, there is brutal force majeure, and there is mercy.
The film does not address this layer of human-nature relationship behind The Mustang project. Needless to say, when the old man told Roman about the substance of the plan and the euthanasia ending that Marcus would face, the director had made this reality, which is colder than the wilderness, very clear. Although people and horses are redeemed in the process of building up their feelings for each other, they cannot change the imbalanced situation at all. Back in the wilderness, Marcus is a lone horse who has lost his herd. Roman, who still can't control his anger, will have a very difficult life even if he returns to society, and may always be a marginal person.
Man and nature should maintain a balance between humility and pride, struggle and coexistence. But now, the wilderness has lost the reverence and reverence it deserves, on which people have captured and tamed The Mustang as a natural prison for reforming prisoners. The tamed part of The Mustang will become America's Border Patrol agent, helping the state machine with its guard and deportation duties. The unconquerable wilderness is flattened into a magnificent and beautiful canvas, no longer the majestic and solemn solemnity that overlooks all beings like a god. So, although the lens is very keen to capture the changes of light and shadow in the wilderness, the crashing and going or the subtle movement of light is even richer than the expressions of people and horses, but something has changed. Even when expressing the patriotic feelings that The Mustang will defend the border, it also seems to have a hint of sarcasm. When indestructible human machines have the wilderness, The Mustang, and the guilty man in the palm of their hand, things often go wrong.
