Lorna Irvine is utterly charmed by the recent release.
The first film to be directed by a Saudi Arabian woman (Haifaa Al-Mansour) and filmed entirely within the Saudi Arabian kingdom, this would be enough of a significant achievement—that it is one of the finest family films of the last ten years is another, with a brilliant central performance by the young Waad Mohammed.
Wadjda (Mohammed) is like any ten year old tomboy worth her salt: she back-chats, plays video games, likes to wear Converse sneakers and desperately wants to ride a bike (which appears to her like an apparition as though flying on top of a Toyota roof-rack). Problem is, in Saudi Arabia women and girls are frowned upon for riding bicycles unsupervised as transport. Not that this will stop her, and she is determined to learn verses from the Koran in a school competition in order to win prize money and buy her own.
Although the tone is ultimately that of warm, fuzzy positivity, there is dust and grit to Wadjda, but without a preachy subtext. Casual misogyny is scrutinised, albeit in a subtle way. Religious fervour is gently mocked. The toughness of the school system is underpinned by girls in blue nail polish being kept away from the male gaze. A scene where Wadjda is sexually harassed by a lecherous builder doesn't pull its punches, nor one involving the family tree tapestry which doesn't list women—Wadjda staples her own name to it only for it to be, heartbreakingly, pulled down.
Her beautiful, smart yet frustrated mother (Reem Abdullah) has her own quest: to keep her increasingly unsatisfied husband from going elsewhere. It is clear she is struggling—no amount of cooking or dressing-up will ever be enough.
Friendship and support for the liberated young Wadjda comes in the form of a young male friend (a terrific Abdullrahman Al Gohani) who teaches her to ride his bike and declares that dying for Allah will bring seventy brides. Wadjda gently counters, ‘Ha, seventy bicycles.' Their friendship is the touching centrepiece to the film, and she can clearly run rings around him.
Laugh out-loud hilarious, achingly sad, detailed with symbolism and keenly observed, it is a hard heart that will not be melted by Wadjda. Feisty little Wadjda, with her fearless gait and cheeky smile is, as with director Al-Mansour, blazing her own trail.
RSS