WADJDA FILM REVIEW
Wadjda
The feature film Wadjda draws a picture of gender inequality in Saudi Arabia through the eyes of a young girl, who grew up in the Arab culture. This film portrays how religious tradition contributes to women’s stance in society through dressing, body language and the women’s role in the family. Granted, this film discusses men privilege, which is the inherent right of a man to do more things than a woman can.
The movie was made in 2013 by the first Saudi female director named Haifaa Al-Mansour. This is the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. The story starts off with a young girl, who lives in a suburb of Riyadh. Later on in the story, she had a dream that one day she would have a bicycle—which, in the context of the society, is only granted to boys due to its potential infertility and physical danger. At first, she started to earn money by selling handmade bracelets and collecting fees for exchanging notes between men and women, but that still not earn her enough money. Then she decided to join to the Koranic competition that she previously ignored, which rewarded the winner with a large prize. With her determination, she won first prize but still faced disappointment. Right after she announced that she planned to use the prize money to buy her favorite bicycle, the principle then told her that the money would instead be donated to Palestine on her behalf. With this hold on women, it was virtually impossible for them to achieve what they wanted in life. Continuously, when she returned home, she figured out that her dad taken on a second wife, who could bear a son for him. Her mom felt useless and hopeless that she could not do anything to keep her dad from getting a second wife. Because Wadjda’s mom wanted her daughter to enjoy some of the luxuries that she was not allowed to have, she bought her daughter a bicycle as a gift for winning the competition. Now she had chance to race against her best male friend, Abdullah and won over him. The
The feature film Wadjda draws a picture of gender inequality in Saudi Arabia through the eyes of a young girl, who grew up in the Arab culture. This film portrays how religious tradition contributes to women’s stance in society through dressing, body language and the women’s role in the family. Granted, this film discusses men privilege, which is the inherent right of a man to do more things than a woman can.
The movie was made in 2013 by the first Saudi female director named Haifaa Al-Mansour. This is the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. The story starts off with a young girl, who lives in a suburb of Riyadh. Later on in the story, she had a dream that one day she would have a bicycle—which, in the context of the society, is only granted to boys due to its potential infertility and physical danger. At first, she started to earn money by selling handmade bracelets and collecting fees for exchanging notes between men and women, but that still not earn her enough money. Then she decided to join to the Koranic competition that she previously ignored, which rewarded the winner with a large prize. With her determination, she won first prize but still faced disappointment. Right after she announced that she planned to use the prize money to buy her favorite bicycle, the principle then told her that the money would instead be donated to Palestine on her behalf. With this hold on women, it was virtually impossible for them to achieve what they wanted in life. Continuously, when she returned home, she figured out that her dad taken on a second wife, who could bear a son for him. Her mom felt useless and hopeless that she could not do anything to keep her dad from getting a second wife. Because Wadjda’s mom wanted her daughter to enjoy some of the luxuries that she was not allowed to have, she bought her daughter a bicycle as a gift for winning the competition. Now she had chance to race against her best male friend, Abdullah and won over him. The
Cited: Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860,". American Quarterly 18, no. 2 (1966): 156. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed June 20, 2014) Wadjda. Dir. Haifaa Al-Mansour. Sony Pictures Classics, 2013. DVD.