A film about a girl wanting a bike is not the usual story of gaudy glamour often found in any given Hollywood blockbuster.
Titled after its strong-willed main character played by a young Waad Mohammed, “Wadjda” is a film of firsts: the first film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and the first film to be directed by a Saudi woman, Haifaa Al Mansour (“Women Without Shadows”).
Wadjda is an 11-year-old girl living in Saudi Arabia with her mother and a father who is rarely home. As the film progresses, viewers discover Wadjda’s father is seeking a second wife because her mother cannot bear a son. Faced with the harsh reality of patriarchy, Wadjda seeks freedom elsewhere but is constantly confronted with limitations including her desire to buy and ride a bike.
As a result, she ironically decides to enter a Koran reading competition and plans to use the prize money to buy her own bike. Instead of resisting the culture that has placed so much restriction on her, Wadjda embraces it as a vehicle to gain the independence that is often denied to her.
What is refreshing about the film is that Wadjda is not trying to start a rebellion or even directly challenge the structure of the society she has found herself in. Rather, she is merely trying to be herself.
While “Wadjda” is evidently an understated social critique on the gender inequality found in Saudi Arabia, the film delivers a plethora of messages that make Wadjda’s coming of age story universal and genuinely hopeful.
Though the premise of its production raised some eyebrows in light of Saudi Arabia’s current political and social issues regarding women’s rights, the film is executed with a down-to-earth breath of life that leaves audiences laughing and crying. Sometimes even completely silent as they delve into the world of a girl who is simply trying to forge her own path and claim her freedom.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
