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‘Brides’ Review: Freedom Isn’t All It Seems in a Vibrant but Disquieting Teen Friendship Study
In Nadia Fall's gripping, conversation-stoking debut 'Brides,' two British Muslim pals fly to Istanbul on a mission more drastic than a mere vacation.
Clearly inspired by cases like that of Shamima Begum, the London teen who traveled in secret to Syria to become an ISIS bride, Nadia Fall ‘s debut feature seems on the surface like a hot-button provocation, but it’s surprisingly humane and good-humored in its attempt to understand the individual lives behind a sensational headline issue. By her own admission, the savvier, sassier Muna isn’t as good as Muslim as Doe — no headscarf for her, and she abandoned going to mosque some time ago — but despite the fact that she was born in Britain to Pakistani parents, she’s come to realize that her essential religious background will always render her an outsider in the small, bleak and predominantly white seaside town where they live. One occasionally wishes for more flashes of their life in Britain together as this ride-or-die alliance takes shape, though “Brides” wouldn’t then come in at a commendably tight, volatile 93 minutes, while a late, tenderly extended scene of their first meeting tells us most of what we need to know: a formative adolescent mistake being made in real time, life-saving and life-threatening all at once.
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