Sundance review: 'Brides' is a sensitive, harrowing tale of two Muslim teens running away from the UK to chase a fantasy

The drama “Brides” is an absorbing look at two immigrant teen girls so intent on escaping the pain of their current lives that they’re lured by false promises to what everyone watching knows will be a worse horror. 

Fardosa (Ebada Hassan) is from Somalia. Muna (Safiyye Ingar) and her family come from Pakistan. They are classmates in a school in Wales. As the only Muslim students, they get a barrage of racist taunts every day. Fardosa — whom Muna calls Doe — wears a hijab to school and is reserved. Muna doesn’t wear anything to cover her hair, and her brash talk gets her in trouble with teachers and other students.

The movie starts with Doe and Muna dressed like any typical U.K. student, but it’s for show. They’re running away from home, and they don’t want to draw suspicions when they buy plane tickets to Istanbul. They’re following instructions they got online, to make their way to Syria — where, they’ve been told, they will be welcomed as Muslim princesses.

Once in Istanbul, though, the teens’ plans run into obstacles. The contact they’re supposed to meet at the airport never shows, so they decide to buy bus tickets to a town near the Syrian border. Doe later realizes her passport and money are missing, so they go back to the ticket clerk at the bus station (Cemre Ebuzziya), who invites them to stay with her family overnight. 

Along the way, director Nadia Fall and screenwriter Shayla El-Bushra provide glimpses of Doe and Muna’s lives that led up to this decision. We meet Doe’s mother, Khadijah (Yusra Warsama), a non-Muslim who endures an abusive boyfriend. We see Muna come home from school bloodied from a fight, and see her parents’ disturbing reactions. 

What’s fascinating about “Brides” is how Fall and El-Bushra subtly hint at what might await these girls in Syria — with a carefully ratcheted sense of dread — while putting the focus on the relationship between Doe and Muna. It’s clear how deep and strong their friendship is, but also how taking this leap toward what they hope is freedom takes its toll. The result is a quietly moving chronicle of teen female camaraderie, pushed to the ultimate limits.

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‘Brides’

★★★1/2

Screening in the World Cinema Dramatic competition of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Screens again: Saturday, January 25, 8:50 p.m., Redstone 3, Park City; Monday, January 27, 7 p.m., Broadway 6, Salt Lake City; Thursday, January 30, 4 p.m., Holiday 1, Park City; Sunday, February 2, 9:30 p.m., Redstone 4, Park City. Online screenings Thursday, January 30, 8 a.m. to Sunday, February 2, 11:55 p.m. (All times Mountain time zone.) Not rated, but probably R for language, some violence and sexual material. Running time: 93 minutes; in English, and Turkish with subtitles.