Native reviewers have already pointed out how unreal the depictions of rural Turkish people are in this film, and that the dialogue seems to have been dreamt up and written in another language first and then translated into the language spoken onscreen. Certainly the girls seem much more like sassy inner-city western teenagers than country girls in a Muslim nation.
And this is perhaps the biggest problem: it's a foreigners' view of the east, seen through the ideological lens of western feminism. This lens assumes with a somewhat colonialist arrogance that if only Muslim girls could take a gender studies course, shave their heads and start self-harming themselves, like normal people do, everything would be alright for them.
Yes, this makes the film easier for a liberal westerner to relate to, but only by misrepresenting the realities of the girls living in a very different culture, with a very different set of values and beliefs that are not portrayed here at all.
Many others here have pointed out the pronounced similarity to The Virgin Suicides (and perhaps Picnic At Hanging Rock), and indeed it often feels much more an American teen movie version of the Islamic world than something coming out from that world itself.
Other things seemed not to ring true, such as one of the sister's erratic and promiscuous behaviour and the sex abuse subtext thrown in at the 11th hour that doesn't make sense in terms of any of the characters' behaviours and is not fleshed out enough to warrant its inclusion.
For all this, it's still a well-made film, and the emotional scenes feel powerful, if manipulative. The acting by the sisters in particular is very good, and there are a good number of nice, quiet moments well portrayed, but its ability to observe and report honestly is compromised somewhat by its one-sided agenda.
And this is perhaps the biggest problem: it's a foreigners' view of the east, seen through the ideological lens of western feminism. This lens assumes with a somewhat colonialist arrogance that if only Muslim girls could take a gender studies course, shave their heads and start self-harming themselves, like normal people do, everything would be alright for them.
Yes, this makes the film easier for a liberal westerner to relate to, but only by misrepresenting the realities of the girls living in a very different culture, with a very different set of values and beliefs that are not portrayed here at all.
Many others here have pointed out the pronounced similarity to The Virgin Suicides (and perhaps Picnic At Hanging Rock), and indeed it often feels much more an American teen movie version of the Islamic world than something coming out from that world itself.
Other things seemed not to ring true, such as one of the sister's erratic and promiscuous behaviour and the sex abuse subtext thrown in at the 11th hour that doesn't make sense in terms of any of the characters' behaviours and is not fleshed out enough to warrant its inclusion.
For all this, it's still a well-made film, and the emotional scenes feel powerful, if manipulative. The acting by the sisters in particular is very good, and there are a good number of nice, quiet moments well portrayed, but its ability to observe and report honestly is compromised somewhat by its one-sided agenda.