Brides
When three schoolgirls, dubbed the Bethnal Green Trio, left East London to join ISIS in 2015, the public and certain corners of the press were quick to denounce them. To what extent the girls were evil villains or victims of extremist grooming is still up for debate. Either way, the tale of three ordinary British teenagers drawn to the violence and bloodshed of a terrorist group is undoubtedly fascinating. The feature film debut of Young Vic director Nadia Fall, Brides is reminiscent of that morbid news story that dominated headlines in the mid-2010s. A dark take on the conventional coming-of-age drama, teenagers Muna (Safiyya Ingar) and Doe (Ebada Hassan) flee their homes in the middle of the night in the hopes of heading to Syria.
Muna and Doe are drawn to life in IS-run Syria after consuming online propaganda that portrays an idyll disparate from their own discordant lives. The two girls appear representative of the polarity of public perception on kids who join extremist groups. Bullied at school and watching as her mother becomes more Westernised through her marriage to an abusive white man, Doe is evidently seeking refuge from her grim reality. At first, Muna’s intentions are less clear, and she initially appears to represent the sociopathic rationale behind ISIS recruits. She is cruel and confrontational, stealing balloons from a child’s birthday party while cackling manically, getting into fights and threatening the passive Doe into following through on their plans despite her apparent reservations.
In her acting debut, Hassan conveys the conflicting emotions behind such a life-changing decision. Her childlike wonder and naiveté make the story all the more harrowing. Ingar does her best to portray Muna as a well-rounded, believable character, though the talented actor would have benefited from a more nuanced script. The film largely relies on flashbacks to tell the story, and the result is a slightly disjointed feel. A music video-esque montage set to M.I.A.’s Bad Girls, for instance, is tonally out of place with the rest of the film.
Nevertheless, Fall’s big screen debut is an earnest look at the potential fallout of cultural alienation. Amid the darkness, there are some genuinely moving snippets of girlhood and what could have been had these two wayward teens taken a different path. Brides is a cautionary tale for those who go to extremes to find meaning in their lives.
Antonia Georgiou
Brides is released nationwide on 26th September 2025.
Watch the trailer for Brides here:
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