As a narrative ‘Wadjda’ has an earnest but gentle comic tone of the style of a ‘kid’s compete’ documentary. It merits recognition for its freshness and as the first feature film ever to have been entirely shot in Saudi Arabia and by a female director at that, Ten-year-old Wadjda is a rebel - wears jeans and baseball boots under her abaya, listens to western pop music on the radio, hangs out with a boy, Abdullah and has her own small business, selling plaited friendship bracelets to her friends. When Abdullah crows about having a bicycle, Wadjda is inspired to try to raise the money to buy one for herself. As in ‘Bicycle Thieves’, a bike symbolises freedom, with the added potency that the riding of one by a woman is widely frowned upon. The limitations and humiliations conferred by her sex confront Wadjda everywhere but she is astute enough to realise that she can by-pass social or religious approval if she is financially undependent. In the midst of patriarchal dominance and her mother’s fraught marriage, Wadjda is a wish fulfilment figure, a tomboy super-heroine, who answers back to bullies and makes rakish little gestures of defiance. There is a sense of optimism in her indefatigability. This film makes clear certain realities of female life experience in Saudi Arabia while also proffering comfort in the form of hope for a fairer future.
Hannah McGill – Sight and Sound (BFI) - August 2013
You’d need a heart of stone not to be won over by ‘Wadjda’, a rebel yell with a spoonful of sugar and a pungent sense of Riyadh society, split between the home, the madrasa and the shopping mall. Waad Mohammed plays the 10 yr. old heroine who enters a Qu’ran reading competition to raise funds to buy a bike – much to the horror of her imperilled mother and imperious teacher. In conservative Ryadh, we are told; girls do not ride bikes and are barely even permitted to laugh out of doors. As the first woman ever to shoot a Saudi Arabian feature film, writer/director Haifaa Al Mansour has already assured herself of a small place in history. And yet, ‘Wadjda’ stands on its own merits. The road through is dusty, bumpy and fraught with danger. But up ahead lies the scent of a happy ending. Wadjda knows it is there and bears down on the pedals.
Xan Brooks – The Guardian - July 2013
What is F-Rated?
The F-Rating is applied to all films which are:
- Directed by women
- Written by women
- Has one or more significant women on screen
If it qualifies with one of the above it gets the Bronze rating.
If it qualifies with two of the above it gets the Silver rating.
If it qualifies with all three of the above it gets the Gold rating.