Mustang

Mustang

Mustang is a Turkish Film, directed by Turkish director Deniz Gamze Ergüven and was released in 2015.Mustang falls under the drama genre and presents an interesting take on the theme, or even genre, of romance.This well put together and thought out film is about 5 orphaned sisters who live with their uncle and grandma, throughout the film they face multiple obstacles and tribulations regarding their culture, religion and gender. Themes like Power, conflict, sexism and freedom all play pivotal roles within this and are crucial to the development of the narrative.

All of the themes presented in this film link together perfectly, we can see a connection  and development between the themes throughout the film, one strong theme that is dominant in this film is power, it presents itself in the form of the uncle.while other characters do have some power, mostly over the young girls, the uncle is persistent in exerting his power through the film. many different scenes show the extent of his power and how he uses it. in one of the first scenes we as an audience are mislead into thinking that the grandma is the only powerful character in the film as she disciplines the orphans, however we are brought to a sudden reality that the uncle is the one who 'calls the shots' as when he arrives he has a large presence and he aggressively attacks the girls. everyone else in this scene instantly become inferior, both their performance and the narrative show this effectively as they suddenly become a lot more tamed. there are elements in the film where things are not directly stated but are left for the audience to fit the puzzle together, in some scenes it is implied that the uncle, who has alot of 'morals' and traditions sexually assaults one of the young girls. this scene, while not directly said, is very hard hitting and strong. we only see him leave the room and close the door but the audience seem to instantly gather what is going on. this is a very powerful piece of imagery as it is simple but is a bold statement.

The natural lighting used throughout the entire film help follow the protagonists journey. during a lot of moments it defies the conventions of a dark drama, however there are many moments in the film where it fits and is appropriate. although, i am not stating that the moments where the soft, natural lighting isn't expected are inappropriate times for it to be used as i feel it introduces juxtaposing images and is a fascinating and intriguing technique used by the cinematographers,David Chizallet and Ersin Gok. we as an audience receive a glowing and feminine feel from the aesthetics, i personally dont feel that this was purposely done in an attempt to promote the females in the film but to rather highlight the relationship between women  and women and men and how they are exploited through tradition and culture. the hazy ,glowing,light and visually enticing images we see from the offset immediately deceive the spectators into thinking that this film is innocent and virtuous however we are slowly eased into the morally wrong concepts and corrupted views of the family and the deepend and darker narrative starts to unravel.