(C)2012, Razor Film Produktion GmbH, High Look Group, Rotana Studios All Rights Reserved.
Wadjda is a 2012 Saudi Arabian film written and directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, a female Saudi Arabian film director, which was shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. There should not be anything surprising about these pieces of information, you may think, as the story is set in Saudi Arabia. Well, that is not the case with this extremely patriarchal Muslim country, where women’s activities are heavily restricted, and cinemas had long been banned under the pressure from Muslim conservatism when Wadjda was released. The context plays a vital role in this film. In a Muslim country like Saudi Arabia, interaction between women and men is strictly banned. Women are not allowed to show their faces to men nor let their voices be heard by men in public. They are not allowed to drive, either. This causes them to hire male drivers every time they go somewhere out of a walking distance.
Wadjda, the eponymous heroine of the film, is a 10-year-old schoolgirl living in a very conservative Muslim community. She is a mischievous, fun-loving child, who is full of life and energy.
The film starts with a scene where she is playing with a boy called Abdullah, who she should not be playing with. Abdullah has always been defeated by her in a chasing game until he has got himself a bicycle. He pokes fun at her as he gets away from her on a bike. Only if she could compete with him on bicycles, she protests. Wadjda entreats her mother to buy her a bicycle but to no avail, as it is considered taboo for women to ride bicycles in public under the Muslim belief. However, defiant Wadjda is not one to be disheartened by such odds. One day, she learns that there is going to be a Quran recital competition at school with a large sum of prize money enough to enable her to get a bicycle. She catches at this opportunity with a cheeky grin. She sets out to study Quran and joins the Quran study club at school. Although she is barely able to read a sentence at first, she begins to show her talent as she practices night and day. Her strict school mistress is impressed by Wadjda’s apparent conversion from an undistinguished pupil into a devoted one, when what really occupies the girl’s mind is raising the money to buy the bicycle. One cannot help giggling at her calculating thinking.
Who cannot adore this girl, who defies all difficulties with her spirit and shrewdness? I particularly admire her ingenuity in her colouring her favourite purple trainers in black when she is reprimanded by the mistress for not wearing black shoes. You can see she is not a straightforward conformist haha
Another heroine of this film is Wadjda’s mother, who is fettered by her own belief in what a Muslim woman ought to be. Although a loving mother, she spurns the idea of buying a bicycle for her daughter. She is always concerned about playing the good wife before her husband for fear of him getting a second wife. She seemed to represent one of many voices of Muslim women who are feeling choked in extremely patriarchal society.
The bicycle itself is a cinematic metaphor representative of women’s freedom. After all whether Wadjda can beat Abdullah in a bike race does not really matter. The question is, where does the bicycle take her in the end? That is for the audience to find.
To recap, my impression of this film turned out incredibly refreshing. I found it less grave and dogmatic than I had initially expected. Although the dire situation regarding women’s human rights in Wadjda’s world seems unthinkable to someone from a non-Muslim background, what is pervading throughout the film is not their misery but an uplifting feel, which is well represented in Wadjda’s light-hearted, spirited nature.