Wadjda (Arabic: وجدة) is a Saudi Arabian–German film, written and directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. The movie is the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and is the first feature-length film made by a female Saudi director. The movie has won numerous awards at film festivals around the world and was selected as the Saudi Arabian official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, although it was not nominated. The movie marks the first time Saudi Arabia submitted a film for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Plot
We meet Wadjda (played by first time actor Waad Mohammed), who is an 11-year-old Saudi girl living in the capital Riyadh, with her single mother. Wadjda, wearing the traditional garb of Saudi women, is off to school when her friend Abdulla teases her from the saftey of his bike. Determined to beat Abdulla at a bike race, Wadjda sets out about finally purchasing the brand new green bicycle that is for sale at the store she passes every day on her way to school, where wackiness ensues!
REVIEW
The movie’s production took five years, with most of the time spent trying to find financial backing and getting filming permission, as the director insisted on filming in Saudi Arabia for authenticity. The director received backing from Rotana, the film production company of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. However, the director was very interested in finding a foreign co-producer as in Saudi there are no movie theatres, there is no film industry to speak of and, therefore, little money for investment".
After the movie was chosen for a Sundance Institute writer's lab in Jordan, the director got in touch with the German production company Razor Film, which had previously produced films with Middle-Eastern topics (Paradise Now and Waltz with Bashir). The production involved co-operation with German public TV broadcasters, and various German companies.
The screenplay was influenced by neorealist cinema like Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves, Jafar Panahi's Offside or Rosetta. The final scene recalls the final scene of François Truffaut 's The 400 Blows. The director has stated that that the original version of the screenplay was much bleaker than the finished product: "as she decided she did not want the film to carry a slogan and scream, but just to create a story where people can laugh and cry a little. The director 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 may provide him with a son.
The movie was filmed on the streets of Riyadh, which often made it necessary for the director to work from the back of a van, due to the restrictions placed on women in Saudi Arabia, the director was not allowed to publicly mix with the men in the crew. The director would have to communicate with her crew and actors via walkie-talkie from the van, and watch the performance of her actors on a monitor. The process made it very difficult to direct, making her realise the need to rehearse and to develop an understanding for each scene before it was shot.
Wadjda has received critical acclaim, gaining a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 99%, with a consensus stating consensus: "Transgressive in the best possible way, Wadjda presents a startlingly assured new voice from a corner of the globe where cinema has been all but silenced."
The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2012. It was released in Germany by Koch Media in 2013. Other distributors are: Pretty Pictures (France, theatrical), Sony Pictures Classics (USA, theatrical), Wild Bunch Benelux (Netherlands, theatrical), The Match Factory (Non-USA, all media) and Soda Pictures (UK, all media). It has been shown at several film festivals:
Other screenings include as the opening film of the 6th Gulf Film Festival in Dubai (11–17 April) and at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York (21/25 April). The film is scheduled to be released on DVD in February 2014.
I really have a laymen’s understanding of the culture of Saudi Arabia; that women are expected to cover their features and bodies once in public, that self-respecting women are always chaperoned, and that the learning of the Koran is probably highly recommended, if not enforced.
It is quite amazing then to see these women from the other side of the fence; learning at school they are normal girls, being taught, by women, to shield themselves from men when outside, and how to handle the Koran (with tissues), and not to touch it at all should one be on their period! We are also privvy to the inner lives of a mother and daughter, a mother who has been left by her husband, and a daughter is more forward thinking than she is even aware of.
Here is a set of very modern women living in a patriarchal society that has converted women into teaching other’s how to tow this line. Wadjda’s mission is quite simple: she wants a bike to play with her male friend. However, to do so is not expected, nor encouraged from girls It is this radical nature within Wadjda that is coupled with her determination: hers is not a mission to save all of womanhood from this way of life, nor does she want to be a shinging beacon for change. All she wants to do, is ride a bike with her friend.
Wadjda is also a capitalist. Trading in everything within her power, be it black market, cupid-card courier services, selling bracelets and other shady dealings, Wadjda’s big call is in learning the Koran, as if she wins the local school competition, she wins the amount needed to buy the bike. Is she selling her soul, or is she adapting to the culture that is expected of her like all of her female mentors?
The mother, left by her father, holds onto these practices that encourage women to cover up their features and halt their public interactions with men. In doing so, the mother is under the impression that the father will return to her, and all will be well. Like Wadjda, she follows this culture for her own individual needs. Wadjda’s extremely strict headmistress finally admits to Wadjda, that she was just like her at her age. With that being said, the headmistress nevertheless charges full storm to try to teach Wadjda of her place in this society; like the breaking of a horse that she undoubtedly was on the wrong side of.
The men of the piece serve just enough to gain an understanding of their status within this culture: Wadjda’s father, while loving of his daughter and his wife, is forced by his dedication to his culture to have a son, and to therefore find a bride who will bear him one. There is the mother’s driver, paid for by her estranged husband, who is rude and disrespectful to Wadjda and her mother. There is the shop owner, who is only interested in money, and then there is Wadjda’s male friend Abdulla, who is a product of his culture, but is lead by his heart. Despite his playful teasing of her, he does love his friend Wadjda, and steps up as her male companion and chapereone.
This is Waad Mohammed’s movie. She is a natural, with a very crafty smile and look, but coupled with a naivety.
Rating
Complex themes delivered simply. A great achievement: 4 out of 5 green bikes. Luke McWilliams, 2014
