**Spoiler Alert**
Director: Deniz Gamze Erguven/Starring: Gunes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan, Nihal G. Koldas, Burak Yigit and Ayberk Pekcan
The Turkish Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film; Mustang only just arrived at the local art cinema and it is readily apparent why the committee selected director Deniz Gamze Erguven's stirring film. As more and more films about women or directed by women made their way to movie screens in 2015, movie audiences were treated to powerful stories that offered viable viewing alternatives to male-heavy Hollywood. Many of the films addressed various social conditions facing women in the past and present; Joy, Carol, Brooklyn, Suffragette, I Am Najoom, Aged 10 and Divorced and Chi-raq; to name a few. Erguven's own contribution, like Najoom, shows us the suffocating, cultural norms of less progressive countries where women's freedom of choice and expression have been nullified by draconian laws and customs conceived and enforced by men. The key similarity between the films are female protagonists who recognize the oppressive nature of their culture and take action to escape it.
Set in present day northern, rural Turkey, Mustang tells the story of five young, teenage sisters who incur the wrath of their grandmother when a busybody neighbor notices them frolicking with some local boys in the water. While young girls sitting on the shoulders of boys trying to topple one another into the water seems harmless in our western eyes, to the elder members of the Turkish community, the game is a shocking breach of female propriety. Their grandmother scolds them angrily and forces them into a kind of house arrest; fearing further contact with boys and unkind, gossipy talk. Of course their domestic incarceration means no school and zero contact with the outside world. Because the girl's parents are deceased, their upbringing is overseen by their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas) and their strict uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan), who grant them few freedoms.
The most defiant of the five sisters and the youngest is Lale (a terrific Gunes Sensoy), who resists and questions all stringent customs and rules she and her siblings must obey. Lale's interest in football (soccer) prompts her to petition her uncle to watch a game on television with the men, which he forbids without a second thought. As the girls find ways to surreptitiously escape their home, some manage to meet boys on the sly while Lale, eager to see a football match live, enlists her sister's participation. In an amusing but hair-raising scene, the girl's narrowly escape being seen in a televised game by their uncle. The grandmother resorts to cutting off the electricity to ensure the uncle doesn't catch a glimpse of the girls in the broadcast.
When the uncle discovers he can no longer keep his nieces from venturing out, he welds bars over all the windows to insure their captivity.
Before long, the two older sisters; Selma (Tugba Sunguroglu) and Sonay (Ilayda Akdogan) find themselves married off, against their wishes and will, to young men. And not only must they accept their respective wedding arrangements, they must also provide proof of their virginity on their wedding nights. In one scene, Selma's husband frantically searches for blood stains on the bed sheets while his family pounds on the bedroom door, demanding to see the evidence. Unable to satisfy her in-laws, Selma is subjected to a degrading medical examination, though the male physician proves to be sympathetic. Horrified at the prospect of a similar fate, the younger sisters are powerless to protest or to refuse Erol and their grandmother's unspoken demands.
As their uncle exerts his authoritarian rule, we discover that his feelings for the sisters are hardly avuncular; a fact that doesn't escape Lale's notice. Caught between compulsory marriage, which presents a life of spousal servitude and their uncle's amorous violations; we see the women are snared in a hopeless and inescapable web spun by the culture's male elders. Enabling the men are the older women, who train and prepare the younger women for their future roles as housewives.
For Lale, an escape to Istanbul, which serves as a symbol of freedom, is a goal she tirelessly pursues. So eager is Lale to break free from her home, she befriends a delivery man named Yasin (Burak Yigit), who helps the young teen learn the rudiments of driving to aid in her escape.
The film comes to a thrilling climax when the second youngest sister, Nur (Doga Zeynep Doguslu) is suddenly offered up as a wife to a prospective suitor, which galvanizes both she and Lale to effect an escape from Erol and their grandmother's clutches.
A film like Erguven's works when we care enough about the characters to be drawn into the story. The young women who play the sisters were cast exceptionally well and seem very much like sisters in manner and appearance.
Erguven's film makes a compelling statement about the powerlessness of women in the Islamic world. Whether stories like Mustang can offer hope to women in the Islamic nations (assuming this film has a worldwide release) remains to be seen. But given the rise of ISIS and Islamic extremism across the Arab world, progress may come to an unfortunate halt.
An earlier comparison to Najoom is apt, for both films feature young, female heroines whose actions reflect a youthful call for female liberation.
The film is powerful, sometimes disturbing but very real and heartfelt. The characters are sensitively drawn, as is the vivid world Erguven depicts. Lale refuses to be a victim and a subject; her actions and decisions make her an unlikely heroine in a culture that is loathe to celebrate female self-determination. I hope we see more women like her as the cinematic year unfolds.
