"Very few films can claim to be a film of firsts the way Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda can"

Very few films can claim to be a film of firsts the way Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda can. It is the first feature film shot entirely inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, written and directed by the first Saudi filmmaker, and features the first on-screen performance from lead actress Waad Mohammed. Wadjda is a significant moment within Middle Eastern filmmaking and within the global story or heritage of film. It is a seminal moment in an art form which has done the political and social dance frequently throughout it’s relatively short lifespan when compared to other art forms.

Haifaa Al Mansour’s debut feature tells the simple story of the film’s title character Wadjda, an intelligent and forward thinking Saudi girl who dreams of saving up enough money to buy a bicycle so that she can race her friend.

Beneath the guise of the simple premise Al Mansour creates a rich subtext that explores the modern Saudi woman, the relationships between women and the generation gap. Wadjda could be categorised as a story about women, but through what appears such a focused view, Al Mansour allows the films narrative to wander and consider equality and the relationship between men and women as well as the universal themes of perseverance, the pursuit of change and one’s dreams. These are the ideals the Wadjda character comes to represent; cinema’s modern child heroine or champion who confronts the individual’s conformity to the traditions and ideas of the collective. Haifaa Al Mansour has stated, “I hope the film offers a unique insight into my own country and speaks of universal themes of hope and perseverance that people of all cultures can relate to.” Al Mansour is a proponent of the ideology that art should know no boundaries, and her starting point that may appear geographically centralised is the starting point of her spiral that transforms Wadjda into a universal human drama.

Whilst observing the aforementioned themes, the film is at its heart a celebration of youth. Wadjda is warned by one of her teachers, “Your behaviour will haunt you forever.” Wadjda fascinates because of her naiveté and innocence, a testament to the recklessness and freedom youth affords its young as they discover their place in the world. As Al Mansour rightfully believes, this is a universal theme that belongs to not one country. The film finds a perfect equilibrium between the hopes of youth, of maintaining ones individuality, with the world of adults, forced to conform, whose rebellious actions will haunt them but only because they lack the courage to pursue change and their heart’s content. These are not necessarily selfish actions, but rather these repressed desires serve to depict society as using custom, religion and tradition to restrict the blossoming of the individual. Wadjda beats with a message and an ideology; a film that exists for a reason beyond entertainment.

Perhaps the film speaks of youthful misdemeanours, of society forgiving the indiscretions of its youth whilst it less forgiving to the indiscretions of others. Al Mansour understands that to create a celebration of adolescence, it needs to be surrounded with mature characters to provide the representation of youth with a perspective. But she also exploits youth in the same way to depict the conflict within her country, of the place of tradition versus the desire of some to transform society and move forward.

Wadjda is a film that is made by its emotional conclusion. Every scene, every line of dialogue, every observation is building towards an emotion conclusion that leaves one with a sense of privilege of having been fortunate enough to experience Haifaa Al Mansour’s gem of a debut feature.