A big hit with audiences and critics this year at Venice, Wadjda is a breath of fresh air bringing a new voice to world cinema and prompting comparisons with the heyday of Iranian cinema with films such as The White Balloon and The Apple. It’s one of the first films to come out of Saudi Arabia and the first to be directed by a woman. With an essentially neo-realist heart, it also bears comparison to De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves.
Shot entirely on location, the film centres on 10-year-old Wadjda (Waad Mohammed). Spotting a beautiful green bicycle for sale, she wants to buy it. But her mother (Reem Abdullah) forbids her to, afraid of the repercussions in a society where a bicycle could be seen as compromising a young girl’s virtue. Not to be thwarted, Wadjda sets out to raise the money herself via a number of schemes including taking part in a Koran recitation competition at school.
This is a brave and brilliant film – honest in its representation of a society which is notoriously repressive for women and girls, but which nonetheless offers a positive and ultimately hopeful vision of one girl’s determination to realise her dreams.