Premiering in competition at this month’s Rabat International Author Film Festival, Girls of the Sea stars Bahareh Afshari stars as Goli, a young Afghani woman running from her mysterious past. Taking up the mantle of a complex and painful topic, director Davoud Atyabi to bring us deeper into the personal experiences of a group of women targeted by human traffickers as they strive to make better lives for themselves abroad.
The opening moments of the film sketch out a series of mysterious moments: a woman arranges purchases a bomb in the back room of an Afghan market; a man in scuba gear emerges from the sea, emptyhanded; that same woman stares defiantly at a group of men as she sets off that bomb, ending their lives. The film picks up as a van moves around Tehran picking up a series of young women with rucksacks. One of the men driving that van is our diver, Mayizar (Shakib Shajareh), but his purpose is unclear. The girls seem hopeful, but there is clearly more here than meets the eye: a fact thrown into glaring relief when our mysterious bomber, Goli, climbs into the back. Eventually, the van drops the girls off at the stables of a sprawling property, they meet the charismatic Mahshid (Nasim Adabi), who introduces herself as their teacher, but it something closer to a mad motivational speaker or unhinged life coach.
It seems the girls, each of them running from something, has been promised a better life outside of Iran. One by one, we learn their sad tales, each and every one tragic in its own special way. Lured by the promise of work in Turkey or Germany, and with few (or no) other options, the girls hang on Mashid’s every word, hopeful that a better life awaits them just beyond the horizon. For the most part, the girls seem excited, eagerly drinking in what Mahshid is serving up. Unlike the rest of them, Goli seems unconvinced. With no other option, however, she plays along.
One day, Mahshid tries to get closer to Goli, asking how a girl as pretty as she escaped getting married back in Afghanistan. Goli replies that she hates all men, but refuses to elaborate. Later, impressed by her intelligence, Mahshid attempts to convince her to recruit more Afghan girls like herself, but Goli, realizing there is more here than meets the eye, demurs. Flashing back, we learn the truth about her past. Having been forced to witness her mother’s rape at the hands of the Taliban, she exacted her vengeance. Later, in a rare unguarded moment, she is recognized at the market and forced to flee the country she holds so dear under the cover of night. Jaded by her experiences, she trusts no one, and apparently, Mahshid least of all, though she seems to have little choice.
As for Mayizar, we learn a bit more about his sad story as well, though it’s a bit tougher to muster much sympathy for a human trafficker, no matter what may have happened in his past. Once in love with a kind and beautiful woman named Arezoo, Mayizar proposed, planning to run away together along the very same boat route they use to smuggle girls out of the country. Fate handily tempted, they are chased in their attempt, with Arezoo falling tragically to her death in a twisted manifestation of karmic retribution for Mayizar’s misdeeds, which will prove to torture him until the very end.
As the girls set off on their final journey, the façade of what is to come begins to unravel. When they are transferred to a large fishing boat filled ominously with sharks and a group of women they are forbidden to speak to, it becomes glaringly obvious that all they have been promised is a lie. Mayizar, tortured by his conscience, warns Goli of what awaits, and leaps into the sea to be reunited with his beloved. Rather than succumb to fate, Goli convinces the girls to jump. The film ends in a macabre tableau as Goli floats alone in the sea, her fate unknown.
Girls of the Sea premiered in competition at the Rabat International Author Film Festival this month.
© 2020-2024. UniversalCinema Mag.