Reviewed by Martin Hutchinson. Viewed at the Lobero\u00a0Theater, Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mustang by\u00a0Deniz Gamze Erg\u00fcvent is one of the front runners in the race for the Oscar for best foreign language film and for good reason. The film holds its own with some of the most emotionally powerful moments and socially biting critiques in film this year. The film is a female\u00a0tour de force led by five stellar young Turkish actresses who play\u00a0sisters stifled and mistreated\u00a0by their family\u00a0in\u00a0a society that tramples on the rights of women. It is perhaps the best ensemble of unknowns to come along in many a year.<\/p>\n
The young women are introduced as a carefree, fun loving group acting out\u00a0the natural antics of a bevy of teenagers. When they cross the line in their interactions with a few boys, their world is turned upside down as their\u00a0uncle takes command of the household and begins quickly curtailing their freedoms, pleasures and even their garb. As they approach marriageable ages they are threatened with being married of like chattel to the most presentable stranger. The story follows how the girls react to and cope\u00a0with\u00a0these turn of events and how they rebel to the best of their ability against the heavy hand of conservative Turkish society.<\/p>\n
A picture of a patriarchal and sexist social structure is evoked throughout the film. Power, freedom, gender roles in society, as well as other darker themes are all explored within the scope of the travails of this sisterhood. The film never strays from the perspective of one of the five\u00a0sisters\u00a0and very rarely away from the youngest who serves as the main protagonist. Because of this the viewer is equally trapped under\u00a0the house arrest the girls suffer under, which makes it all the more sweet whenever the girls (and the camera) is allowed to find\u00a0its way outside of the house’s premises. In a scene where some of the girls are\u00a0driving from their home to the capital Istanbul the girders of the bridge they are crossing sporadically interrupt the breathtaking view of the city skyline as if the they were leaving the bars of their prison behind.<\/p>\n
Sometimes film can move you\u00a0to indignation, compassion and elation all in the same breath. This film\u00a0attempts to do that and in my opinion succeeds by illustrating\u00a0a story that is as touching as it is scathing. To overlook this film would be a crime indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reviewed by Martin Hutchinson. Viewed at the Lobero\u00a0Theater, Santa Barbara. Mustang by\u00a0Deniz Gamze Erg\u00fcvent is one of the front runners in the race for the Oscar for best foreign language film and for good reason. The film holds its own with some of the most emotionally powerful moments and socially biting critiques in film this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,272],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2016"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/81295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}