Wadjda

Wadjda is a small movie about a little girl, but it is a big deal in Arab film history.  It is the first feature shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and the first made by a female Saudi filmmaker--39 year-old Haifaa Al Mansour.  The Saudi government’s selection of this movie as their entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar is a progressive step for a country that bans cinema and forbids women from driving and voting--never mind directing. A nomination could bring the picture wide exposure, making it the first account many Americans will have of what life is like inside our troublesome Middle Eastern ally. 

As the many Western moviegoers who flocked to see the Iranian dud Kandahar in 2001 simply because it was partially shot in Taliban controlled Afghanistan can attest, being interesting from a geopolitical standpoint doesn’t necessarily make a film worth seeing. Wadjda, however, succeeds with its restrained, unpretentious style and the spunky charm of its young lead, ten year-old Waad Mohammed. She plays a rebellious schoolgirl named Wadjda who enters a Koran-study competition as a way to raise money to buy the bicycle she so desperately wants. In the patriarchal and repressive society that she, her friends and family live in, riding bicycles is considered damaging to a girl's virtue. While not exactly banned from riding a bike, a girl like Wadjda could be jeopardizing her future by rejecting societal norms. 

Even though nothing especially awful happens to any of the characters in this movie, it is unsettling to watch how Wadjda’s mother and the other women of their city go about their daily lives. The burqas they wear in public to cover their otherwise western style clothing convey the idea that they are hiding from the men who control their fates, rather than being modest in front of them. But this imagery is not heavy-handed, and we get to see a full range of attitudes from men and women, kids and adults during this short film.

A bicycle is a near-universal symbol of freedom and independence in cinema. From Vittorio De Sica's 1948 neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves to the 2011 Dardenne Brothers picture The Kid with a Bike, movies about a character’s need or desire for a bicycle have provided an excellent way for filmmakers to critique society and give audiences a window on specific political or economic situations. Wadjda is not in the same class as those pictures, but this is only Al Mansour’s first narrative feature. And though Wadjda’s conclusion can be viewed ambiguously, it left me feeling optimistic for the future of Saudi Arabian women and the career of this individual filmmaker.