Overview
Sara is a young girl raised in a family of goat farmers. her parents homeschool their twelve children, rigorously following the precepts of the Bible. Like her sisters, Sara is taught to be a devout woman, subservient to men while keeping her emotional and physical purity intact until marriage.
Made with non-actors in their own surroundings, the film avoids commenting on religious mentoring or on the essence of community life in order to capture the intimacy of a society where home-schooling is just as natural as target-shooting in late pregnancy. The decision not to emphasize any particular characteristic allowed the director to create an exceptionally vivid portrait in an ascetic yet suggestive film that admirably avoids the traditional tools of dramatization usually applied to stories about adolescent girls or their environment. The director nevertheless succeeds in constructing a comprehensive and compelling portrait of unique individuals while it continues to focus on Sara’s quest for new paths in life.