Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Nadia Fall
Starring: Ebada Hassan, Safiyya Ingar, Yusra Warsama, Cemre Ebuzziya, Aziz Capkurt
Before the arrival of social media, parents would worry about their kids falling in with the wrong crowd whenever they left the house. Now young people are more likely to fall prey to those with negative intentions by staying indoors and scrolling through apps. Director Nadia Fall and writer Suhayla El-Bushra's Brides is a fictional account of the tragically real phenomena of online radicalisation, drawing its influences from cases like that of Shamima Begum, the British teenager who travelled to Syria with two classmates to join ISIS.
In the early hours of the morning 15-year-olds Doe (Ebada Hassan) and Muna (Safiyya Ingar) sneak out of their homes in a small English seaside town and begin a planned journey to Syria. A Somalian who arrived in England aged three, Doe is a shy and devout Muslim disgusted by her mother's drunken, westernised ways. Born in England to Pakistani parents, Muna is sassy and confrontational. She has little interest in Islam but sees joining ISIS as the ultimate extension of her rebellious nature. What exactly brought them to this foolish and pivotal decision is never entirely disclosed, but we learn that an older Muslim boy to whom Doe was attracted left for Syria a few weeks earlier, and ominously hasn't been in contact since his departure. In voiceover we hear ISIS propaganda spoken by an English-accented woman who promises young Muslim girls the happiness they've been unable to find in England.
When the girls arrive in Turkey they find themselves left at the airport when the contact due to take them to Syria fails to show up. They buy bus tickets for that evening but Doe's handbag is stolen, leaving her without the tickets and her passport. Taking pity on them, the ticket seller, Zeynep (Cemre Ebuzziya), allows them to spend the night in the home she shares with her mother and sister. When Doe and Muna fail to provide convincing answers regarding their trip to the Syrian border, Zeynep grows suspicious, leading the girls to quietly flee in the middle of the night. The following morning they find themselves pursued by the Turkish police.
Given the bleakness of its subject matter, you might expect Brides to be a heavy watch. It's a surprise then to find it a film that will have you often smiling and sometimes laughing as you get caught up in the exuberance of these girls' ill-thought out journey. The two young performers are so charismatic and have such tangible chemistry that it's all too easy to forget the horrific reality of their naive venture. When they hide from police you might find yourself holding your breath and hoping they don't get caught before remembering that getting caught would be the best thing that could happen to Doe and Muna. This is a rare case of a movie where we're rooting for the protagonists to fail, because we know exactly what "success" will mean for two teenage girls embedded with ISIS.
Yet while we dig our knuckles into our seats and prey that someone or something will make these clueless girls comes to their senses, the film makes it clear why they were so keen to leave the UK. In flashbacks we see Doe preyed upon by both a school bully and her mother's creepy boyfriend. Conversely, Muna's troubles have largely come from her conservative family who don't approve of her westernised behaviour, making it ironic that she rebels by adopting a radical form of Islam.
We get swept up in this friendship, and Doe and Muna are a delight to hang out with. So much so that it becomes all the more tragic when we realise that the film is unlikely to provide the happy ending we might wish for. For Doe and Muna, forward lies exploitation and likely death, while a retreat means a return to misery and unacceptance in a society that doesn't want them.
There's a recurring motif of Doe being disappointed by Muslims who she believes don't embrace their faith correctly, whether by engaging in drinking and lustful behaviour or refusing to demonise non-Muslims. Unable to find kinship in her own community, Doe turns to a radical version offered online. These are two girls let down by one culture and exploited by another, a theme that should resonate with young people of all creeds in today's world of manipulative bad actors.
Brides is in UK/ROI cinemas from September 26th.
