A woman’s role in contemporary Saudi Arabia is pretty much prescribed – but as a 10 year old, Wadjda makes the most of her limited options.
Intelligent, savvy, full of energy, her heart and mind is set on a new bicycle (even though the conservative society around her in suburban Riyadh do not approve). She wants to beat her best friend Abdullah in a race. With entrepreneurial spirit to raise money for buying the bicycle, Wadjda (a joyful Waad Mohammed) enters the school Koran competition – much to the surprise of her mother (Reem Abdullah).
It’s a simple story modestly told by writer/director Haifaa Al-Mansour. Yet, with its predominantly female cast and first film shot by a woman in the country, it enters the annals of pioneering cinema. Wadjda, in its uncomplicated narrative between home and madrasa, provides a beautifully modulated commentary on the position of women in Saudi Arabia.
Rating: 88%
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour (Mary Shelley, The Perfect Candidate)
Writer: Haifaa Al-Mansour (Mary Shelley, The Perfect Candidate)
Main cast: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah (TV’s Selfie, Asouf) , Ahd (Rattle the Cage, TV’s Collateral)
An Opinion or Two 