Young Turkish director Deniz Gamze Erguven named her film Mustang “as a metaphor for beauty, freedom, energy and the untamable.”
The film opens with five beautiful girls taking leave of their beloved teacher at the end of the school semester. The teacher comforts the smallest girl, Lale, softly calling her “kizim,” which means “my girl”. Her sisters are Nur, Ece, Selma and Sonay. Their power is drawn from their collectivity. They are one: hydra-headed. When they come up against the old rural ways that deny women and girls the right to be themselves, they find a way, but not without loss.
Mustang is a myth, but there are such fierce and brave village women! Very likely, educated modern Turkish women however will say, “That’s not what our country is like,” if they see the film. Perhaps it isn’t like that, not for those who are lucky. The myth of Mustang pierces ignorance.
