Bahar, (Golshifteh Farahani), commander of Peshmerga women soldiers, prepares her fighters to liberate an ISIS-controlled town – she prays she will find her son alive in an indoctrination school. Veteran French war reporter Mathilde, (Emmanuelle Bercot, in a role patterned after eye-patched war correspondent Marie Colvin killed in Syria) eye-patched war correspondent is embedded with the troops. Several women are Yazidi whose families were massacred, they themselves kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery and miraculously escaped (as was activist Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize) to join the Kurdish army. With fierce survival instincts, Bahar morphs from Parisian-educated lawyer into Kalashnikov-wielding leader of an all female squad.

Based on real events, director-screenwriter Eva Husson, brings us a gripping and suspenseful story of sisterhood, earning a standing ovation at Cannes 2018.