The Bride (2018)

The Bride is a horror/thriller that examines gender politics in the middle east. In May of 2016, 100 Yazid slave girls were burned alive at a slave market in Mosul. Their owner, Umm Saraf, queen of the Isis slave trade was responsible. She fled into the desert leaving one survivor, her personal slave, Amal. Amal is captured and questioned by Major Ahmad of the Kurdish Women's Protection Unit, an all female battalion of soldiers fighting ISIS. The Major believes Amal's life as a slave is her own fault, and her very existence reinforces every cliche of Middle Eastern women. The irony is Major Ahmad has orders to turn Amal over to the United States so Amal may be interviewed on 60 Minutes. As the Major says, "You're going to be famous for being a victim. That is ironic." What ensues is a battle of feminine perspectives. Frustrated with Amal's perceived lies, the Major demands the truth. Finally, Amal tells the story of The Bride, a legend among the Yazidi slaves. She was a Boko Haram slave girl sold to ISIS and murdered by Umm Saraf for being defiant. But instead of snuffing the Bride out like a flame in the dark, she returned as a vengeful ghost, haunting Umm Saraf and driving her mad. Finally, Amal reveals that the Bride and she are one in the same, and she is offering the Major the opportunity to do the right thing. The Bride is not only a journey into the heart of darkness that is war, but the human soul and all its shadows and sins.