Mustang

This is quite a confusing film to appreciate as it’s not entirely clear who it is for. It depicts the family lives of five orphaned girls who range from early teens to early womanhood who are living with their guardians on the coast of Northern Turkey. It’s after some fun, fully clothed, japes in the sea with some equally clothed lads that one of their neighbours complains of their “scandalous” behaviour. Of course, their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas) goes a bit incandescent but not as much as the man of their household “Uncle Erol” (Ayberk Pekcan) who irrationally concludes that they have been permitted too much freedom and liberty as they have grown up, and that has got to stop. Slowly, but surely, they find their home becoming more like a secure waiting room for the marriage bed as they are, one by one, manoeuvred into advantageous marriages - whether they like it or not! Now these girls are no shrinking violets, and so work to find ways to still enjoy some of the freedoms they fear that they will lose whilst each of the older girls take differing views on their future roles and happiness. The five girls perform engagingly here, as does the conflicted Koldas but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to take from this. One level it’s a fairly brutal critique on women inhibited by tradition and custom and forced into lives they neither wanted nor sought. On the other hand, though, there are endorsements of the cultural benefits of respect and honour, and these girls don’t opt universally for either path. There are scenarios here that will stick in the throat of just about everyone whilst also offering hope - of one variety or another - too. It’s possibly from the perspective of the youngest girl “Lale” (Günes Sensoy) that we can make the most sense as she, barely into double digits, is left largely unhindered by their marital plotting but who sentiently observes just how the imposition of husbands, potential and actual, in the lives of her sisters profoundly changes the dynamic she has known since she was born. The production is lively and the photography gets up close and personal - a useful technique when demonstrating emotions that are this powerful from amongst a family whose love for each other isn’t ever questioned, but whose respect for each other and for their attitudes is the thing to watch ebb and flow. It’s not an easy watch, nor is it entirely one-sided as the boys don’t have too much say in their futures either, but it is that very lack of straightforwardness that makes it a bit more interesting and thought provoking.