I read a number of movie reviews over the weekend, and it seems that reviewers were less than enthralled with last week’s crop of new theatre releases. An exception was “Wadjida,” a movie set in Saudi Arabia and directed by Hai-faa al-Mansour. Reportedly this is the first feature film ever directed by a Saudi woman.
The main character is Wadjda, a 10 year-old-rebel. While other students at her all-girl school wear Mary Janes and frilly socks with their long, shapeless dresses, Wadjda wears black Converse high-tops. This small act of individuality is now coupled with her desire to own her own bicycle, which she needs so she can beat her best friend, who is a boy, in a race.
This film has no political/philosophical axe to grind. It is instead a gentle story in which the difficulties faced by Saudi women are inferred. Wadjda learns how to rebel and still be obedient. Hai-faa al-Mansour finds ways to “maneuver between hard realism and a more hopeful kind of storytelling.”