A Turkish version of The Virgin Suicides. I guess that's Mustang in a nutshell: five teenage girls. One insanely conservative family. All in all a recipe for disaster.
It's the last day of school and Lale (the youngest) and her sisters prepare to enjoy their summer holiday. But first, they take a detour. They head to the beach with a couple of local boys and play in the sea. One of the locals apparently noticed this, because the moment they get back, they're treated to what is probably a firm spanking by their stepmother. Their playing with boys is very much frowned upon as their virginities, their 'virtue', the sanctity of their bodies are at stake. The girls, however, refuse to adapt to their step-parents' strict lifestyles and seek out opportunities to live life as they choose even when the house they live in is slowly being transformed (figuratively and literally) into a prison.
Mustang is a tough watch as moments of free-spiritedness and playfulness are quickly interchanged with moments of tension as the girls find themselves, as always, blamed for everything and their freedoms restricted. Their summer activities soon consist of learning domestic activities (cooking and so on) and preparing for arranged marriages.
The best aspect of Mustang is its examination of the oppression of women. Obviously this includes the sisters who are to blame for everything involving sexuality. They are told through TV programs and so on they must protect their chastity and that they must do this and they must do that. It's always them that have to do something and are to blame. The local boys are never punished even though they are spellbound by the other sex as well. They share the same desires, but because more is expected of the girls, they're held to higher standards and punished if any rules are transgressed. This can be seen when one night a few boys stand outside the girls' house and call for them. Not only are the boys not chastised for this unruly behavior, it's the girls who are automatically viewed with suspicion. It's them who have to chase away the drunk hoodlums and pretend they're asleep just to avoid any suspicion.
The film's analysis extends to the mothers and aunts as well. This is where things get even more interesting. Though the first thing we see the stepmother do is punish the girls, we soon learn that this is the last thing she wants to do. We soon find that the women will go to great lengths to cover for the girls. At one point, the girls sneak out to see a football match which the family is also watching at home. One of the women notices them on TV and shortly after, the stepmother smashes the fuses and another one destroys a crucial part of the supply of electricity to the entire village...all so that the stepdad wouldn't notice the girls on TV. This scene is played for laughs, but there's also an undercurrent of profound sadness. The women want to do right by the girls, but are unable to do so under the yoke of the men in their lives and the 'natural order of things'. They are free in that, when push comes to shove, they'll have the children's best interests at heart, but it's a half-freedom in the end.
If all this doesn't exactly sound like a happy night at the movies, then you're not wrong. Nevertheless, it's important to realize the damage this kind of extremely conservative behavior can cause. For the sake of balance, I wish I could say the film treats the stepdad (the symbol of extreme conservatism) with some nuance, but it doesn't really. It fully takes sides with the children and isn't that the right thing to do, in the end?
It's the last day of school and Lale (the youngest) and her sisters prepare to enjoy their summer holiday. But first, they take a detour. They head to the beach with a couple of local boys and play in the sea. One of the locals apparently noticed this, because the moment they get back, they're treated to what is probably a firm spanking by their stepmother. Their playing with boys is very much frowned upon as their virginities, their 'virtue', the sanctity of their bodies are at stake. The girls, however, refuse to adapt to their step-parents' strict lifestyles and seek out opportunities to live life as they choose even when the house they live in is slowly being transformed (figuratively and literally) into a prison.
Mustang is a tough watch as moments of free-spiritedness and playfulness are quickly interchanged with moments of tension as the girls find themselves, as always, blamed for everything and their freedoms restricted. Their summer activities soon consist of learning domestic activities (cooking and so on) and preparing for arranged marriages.
The best aspect of Mustang is its examination of the oppression of women. Obviously this includes the sisters who are to blame for everything involving sexuality. They are told through TV programs and so on they must protect their chastity and that they must do this and they must do that. It's always them that have to do something and are to blame. The local boys are never punished even though they are spellbound by the other sex as well. They share the same desires, but because more is expected of the girls, they're held to higher standards and punished if any rules are transgressed. This can be seen when one night a few boys stand outside the girls' house and call for them. Not only are the boys not chastised for this unruly behavior, it's the girls who are automatically viewed with suspicion. It's them who have to chase away the drunk hoodlums and pretend they're asleep just to avoid any suspicion.
The film's analysis extends to the mothers and aunts as well. This is where things get even more interesting. Though the first thing we see the stepmother do is punish the girls, we soon learn that this is the last thing she wants to do. We soon find that the women will go to great lengths to cover for the girls. At one point, the girls sneak out to see a football match which the family is also watching at home. One of the women notices them on TV and shortly after, the stepmother smashes the fuses and another one destroys a crucial part of the supply of electricity to the entire village...all so that the stepdad wouldn't notice the girls on TV. This scene is played for laughs, but there's also an undercurrent of profound sadness. The women want to do right by the girls, but are unable to do so under the yoke of the men in their lives and the 'natural order of things'. They are free in that, when push comes to shove, they'll have the children's best interests at heart, but it's a half-freedom in the end.
If all this doesn't exactly sound like a happy night at the movies, then you're not wrong. Nevertheless, it's important to realize the damage this kind of extremely conservative behavior can cause. For the sake of balance, I wish I could say the film treats the stepdad (the symbol of extreme conservatism) with some nuance, but it doesn't really. It fully takes sides with the children and isn't that the right thing to do, in the end?