Mustang's thesis is pretty explicit: Let's not sell little girls into marriage-slavery! And when faced with the two divergent paths the film proposes—with education and equality for girls on one side, and perpetuation of a system that enslaves and abuses them on the other—I'm pretty sure we're all gonna land on the side of education and mobility. Politically, that's great; cinematically, that stance generates so little friction that it's not altogether compelling to spend two hours exploring it. by Alison Hallett