| By John Zaritsky (Special from the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival - his first TIFF film spotlights the unique rehab opportunity that could truly save lives.) At a prison in the high desert foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, hardened criminals are taught the training methods of ‘horse whisperers' to tame and saddle-train wild mustang horses taken from the herd that roams government lands. Failure means one more defeat for the inmate; success could save both lives. The Wild Horse Inmate Program (WHIP) is a unique form of rehabilitation in a system not known for its humanity. My film, The Wild Horse Redemption, follows the men and mustangs of WHIP through one training cycle. Some won't make it. Throughout my career I have tried to raise awareness and change public attitudes about many issues - always using personal stories to illustrate a bigger theme. For many years, I've been fascinated by stories of redemption and the idea that most people are never beyond reaching - if the right intervention takes place at the right time. When the story of WHIP came to my attention, I felt I had found the right personal story with which to illustrate the bigger issue. The more I learned about this story, the more I became convinced this was a unique opportunity to create a film that can change hearts and minds, while also reaching a very large audience. This was a very exciting prospect for me as a filmmaker. The story of the men and horses of WHIP is a perfect cinematic situation. It is a self-contained story that unfolded before my camera over a defined period of time; the action and the participants told the story, without the need for expert commentators; the characters are compelling, complex and attractive; and the setting is stunning. The journeys of the characters are dramatic, emotional, unpredictable and varied. There is success and failure. But in the successes is the underlying message I want to get across to my audience: that even the most habitual of criminals, caged in a justice system not known for its humanity, can find a way out, a way through to a personal salvation - given the opportunity. Jon Peterson, our lead character, has been in prison 27 of his 44 years of life. Until he started participating in this program, he had no hope of anything better. If he is arrested again after his release, he will spend the rest of his life in prison as an habitual criminal. The lessons he has learned from working with the wild horses - creatures so much like himself - have given him hope for the first time. That he was also trusted to pass on his knowledge to other inmates as a trainer is a huge step forward for him. But when he is released, there are no guarantees he will remain free, and the odds are against him. As a Canadian filmmaker, I felt I have always been more interested in, and ready to tell, stories that might go against the political climate of the times. Canadian governments are increasingly taking the U.S. example in matters of law and order as a template for changes to our own system. That example is seen to be one of harsher punishment: more frequent incarceration, longer sentences and less ‘coddling' of prisoners. And yet, in The Wild Horse Redemption I have found an example of a program in a conservative U.S. state - currently Republican - that is taking the opposite approach and finding success. In a way, I am inspired to tell this story because of the increasing homelessness I see around me in Vancouver, where I now live. There are many factors contributing to this situation, but the one that concerns me most is a shift towards society's "every man for himself" attitude that is causing many of us, and our institutions, to turn our backs on the less fortunate. The inmates in the Cañon City facility in my film are quite likely to end up living on the streets, as are our own ex-cons. For some of them, WHIP is their last chance to avoid this fate. Those of us in the well-off countries of the Western world should see that, given a chance, the most unlikely people can achieve rehabilitation and find a way forward. Screening The Wild Horse Redemption here at the Toronto International Film Festival is a homecoming of sorts for me, and it is my first time here with a film. I started my career in Toronto in the '70s as an investigative reporter at the Toronto Star and then moved on to write for The Globe and Mail. It was at the Globe in 1972 that I was honored with a National Newspaper Award for an investigative piece I wrote on the Ontario government. The article not only won this coveted prize but resulted in the resignation of Ontario Provincial Treasurer Darcy McKeough shortly thereafter. I then moved over to producing and directing television at CBC TV and became one of the first producers of the hit news magazine show "The Fifth Estate." During my time at the show in 1982, I directed and produced a 90-minute documentary entitled Just Another Missing Kid. This moving film was bestowed with the Academy Award® for best documentary feature. Since then, I continued to make documentary films - many dealing with victims of crime that included murder, rape, domestic violence and child molestation. So now to do a film about the criminals was different. Initially, I came in with some cynicism and some hesitancy, but as I got to know the participants of the program, I began to see that these prisoners who have been hardened by the system just may be able to be rehabilitated. And I was moved. Making The Wild Horse Redemption has allowed me to go on the other side and provide a perspective from the criminals and show their lives while illustrating how a program like WHIP could help to save some of these men. I would like the audience to walk away with an open mind toward prisoners, criminals and the system. Perhaps the audience might entertain that these prisoners are worth saving and that some can become law-abiding citizens. I believe there should be programs that provide change. Just locking up prisoners is not the only answer to corrections. Even now, with prisons bulging at the seams, programs like WHIP could truly rehabilitate. I hope The Wild Horse Redemption will help to change public attitude and make it more open toward corrections where the system is not just about punishment - but where rehabilitation is a part of that process. Lives are worth saving. Photos © 2007 National Film Board of Canada | 
