Film Review: "Wadjda" (2012).

The Wall Street Journal said Wadjda is "Funny and Touching. Discover what can make us happy, both as moviegoers and citizens of the world." This Saudi Arabian drama film, written and directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. The film follows a rebellious Saudi girl as she enters a Koran recitation competition at her school and hopes to win enough money to buy her own bicycle.

It was the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, and the first feature-length film made by a female Saudi director. According to al-Mansour, it took five years to make the film. She spent most of the time trying to find financial backing and getting filming permission, since she insisted on filming in Saudi Arabia for reasons of authenticity. She received backing from Rotana, the film production company of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. However, she very much wanted to find a foreign co-producer because "in Saudi there are no movie theatres, there is no film industry to speak of and, therefore, little money for investment". After her selection for a Sundance Institute writer's lab in Jordan, al-Mansour got in touch with the German production company Razor Film, which had previously produced films with Middle-Eastern topics (Paradise Now (2005) and Waltz with Bashir (2008)). Al-Mansour was influenced by neorealist cinema, such as Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948), Jafar Panahi's Offside (2006) and Rosetta (1999). The final scene recalls the final scene of François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959). Al-Mansour based the character of Wadjda on one of her nieces and also on her own experiences when growing up. The main themes of the story are freedom, as represented by the bicycle, and the fear of emotional abandonment, as Wadjda's father wants to take a second wife who will provide him with a son. Because of restrictions placed on women in Saudi Arabia, Al-Mansour was not allowed to interact with her mostly male crew. She had to direct the street scenes from a nearby van, watching through a monitor and giving instructions via walkie-talkie.

The film stars Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Sultan Al Assaf, and Ahd Kamel. Terrific performances were given by the cast. They , especially that of Mohammed, are so emotionally attached to their characters that we really feel the title character's intense suffering and even get to know her very well. 

Again the Saudi Arabia have sent us a brilliant and devastating film in this rueful drama of modern city life, Wadjda. Anchored by a performance of absolute determination and child-like instincts from its lead actress, the film is an extremely small Middle Eastern art movie from fist-time female Saudi Arabia director, Haifaa al-Mansour, that will alienate as many viewers as it wins over. Lutz Reitemeier's naturalistic, quasi-documentary cinematography helped Al-Mansour enormously but what the director herself provides is a sense that though there is no easy answer to the problems of growing up, there is a hope that will never be wholly denied.

Simon says Wadjda receives: