Wadjda

One of cinema's landmarks, "The Bicycle Thief," is about an impoverished man looking for his bike so that he can provide for his family.  "Wadjda" is about a young girl who's also facing poverty and looking for a bike.  But Wadjda's is a poverty of rights, not possessions.

Saudi Arabian women were only recently allowed to ride bikes, and the film makes clear that there's still a significant stigma for those who wish to do so.  Indeed, "Wadjda" is all about the things women can't or aren't supposed to do.  Since women can't drive, Wadjda's mother has to hire a cantankerous man to take her to her job.  She'd like to work closer to home at a hospital, but that job would require her to interact with men; her husband would not approve.  (Even being in view of men is frowned upon for Wadjda.)  Despite their bowing to his wishes, Wadjda and her mother are forced to endure the shame and humiliation of her father taking a second wife.    Women aren't even treated as second-class citizens; it's more like they're property.

And that's what becomes clear from watching "Wadjda": so much of an emphasis is placed on women's sexuality in Saudi Arabia that they're reduced to nothing but their sexuality.  That mindset leads to terrible harassment and abuse, as we see when a man leers at Wadjda and asks to grope her "apples."

But while "Wadjda" does not shy away from the plight of Saudi women, it does offer hope.  Wadjda is cunning and determined, and while those are basically the opposite of the traits Saudi men would like her to have, they enable her to carve out some small freedoms for herself.  The very existence of "Wadjda," the first feature film made in Saudi Arabia, let alone the first film by a woman, offers hope. Director Haifaa Al Mansour has said, "It's better to make the things that you have work.  If you have a small thing, make it work and capitalize on it."  We can all agree that Al Mansour shouldn't be forced to settle for "a small thing."  But we should also be inspired by her achievement in spite of her limitations.