Doe (Ebada Hassan) and Muna (Safiyya Ingar) are best friends, secondary school students and practising Muslims. Doe migrated from Somalia, while Muna lives with her Pakistani family. They make their way from their homes in East London to Syria via Turkey. After a lifetime of dealing with racism, they make an agreement to leave the UK behind, and begin to romanticise the Brides of Isil, a group within Isis that targets young girls throughout Europe. They are lured to Syria under the promise of a space where Muslim femininity is respected and treasured. After Muna reacts to a particularly offensive Islamophobe at school with violence and is subsequently abused by her father, the two friends know it’s time to start their journey east.
The film is inspired by real stories of British women, particularly three schoolgirls dubbed the Bethnal Green Trio, dismissed by UK News outlets in 2015 as terrorist sympathisers. It’s clear from the jump that playwright-turned-filmmaker Nadia Fall’s ultimate ambition is to bring nuance to her characters. Doe and Muna are not meant to be striking or uniquely predisposed to “extremist” thinking; they are just as vulnerable and immature as many women of their age. Their relationship is a familiar one: they’re playful with each other in conversation but also caring in a wordless, innocent way whenever one needs a shoulder to cry on. Fall, along with writer Suhayla El Bushra, seeks to characterise Doe and Muna as average teens, who – due to the rampant pressure of xenophobic alienation – become susceptible to Isis’s recruitment strategies.
Fortunately, the two leads are finely cast. It’s a difficult balancing act at times, but Ingar’s portrayal of Muna’s immature recklessness always feels coherent. Muna romanticises Isis and becoming an Islamic bride, plus she is determined to leave Britain. Ebada Hassan is even more impressive in her portrayal of Doe, who deals with the fear of bigotry and the idealised promise of a Muslim utopia. Her performance is dramatic and almost theatrical at points, mostly responsible for the larger monologues and emphatic moments of conflict. This is Hassan’s debut acting performance, and she brings life to Doe in a very natural way. Her character is less didactic about her motivations. She isn’t as determined to make it to Syria, and she does not believe with as much blind faith that life in the Middle East will be worlds better. It is Doe’s shy and consistently empathetic support of her best friend that leads her to embark on this poorly thought-out journey.
Such dynamic is the emotional core of Brides. This simple premise is so devastatingly effective. The writing is confident and focused throughout. El Bushra constantly asks audiences to let down their guard and forget the inevitable tragedy that awaits her characters. At first, this feels like your average road movie. Doe and Muna find kind strangers, fall asleep on airport benches, clumsily steal food after losing all their pocket change, and so on. We desperately want to react with the same levity as one would expect from others films of the same genre.
It’s not always the case that the cinematography matches the nuance and care that the writing expresses towards this narrative. Clarissa Cappellani’s work behind the camera is a little too safe, particularly after the girls have reached Turkey. The shooting choices are overly traditional and don’t reflect the inner turmoil these two characters face. This may be due to Fall’s background in theatre, and little experience with technical wizardry. Plus, there’s a consistent underutilisation of set design or the surrounding location in the storytelling.
Overall, Brides is a moving and affecting drama. It successfully examines all the ripple effects of Islamophobia. By employing a Mike Leigh-inspired type of realism, it also serves as a vehicle to display Ebada Hassan and Saffiya Ingar’s potential.
Brides showed at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. In cinemas on Friday, September 26th.
