Set in Saudi Arabia, Wadjda takes us through the story of a young kid who wants to be a biker and win bike races competing against her friend. When she finds out that a bicycle would cost her dear, what all does she do to earn the money; will that be enough to buy her a bicycle? Would her wish be fulfilled?
Language:
Arabic
Running Time:
98 min
Rating:
PG
Release date:
31 August 2012
Directed by:
Haifaa al-Mansour
Produced by:
Gerhard Meixner
Roman Paul
Written by:
Haifaa al-Mansour
Starring:
Waad Mohammed
Reem Abdullah
Abdulrahman al-Guhani
Sultan Al Assaf
Ahd Kamel
Music by:
Max Richter
Shot by:
Lutz Reitemeier
Editing by:
Andreas Wodraschke
Distributed by:
Koch Media

What’s Hot

  • The director Haifaa al-Mansour has done an incredible job. She has given adequate importance to the story and its theme thereby presenting us with a wonderful feel-good movie.
  • The story is fresh and unique, in the sense that a young girl yearns to be a biker with which she wants to race and win against a guy of her age, this for the fact that it is set in Saudi Arabia and completely shot inside of Saudi Arabia.
  • Waad Mohammed is a charm in the movie and her portrayal of Wadjda is vivid. Abdullrahman Algohani playing Abdullah has joined hands with Waad to picturise the dream childhood of people realistically. Reem Abdullah as her mother has emoted well.

What’s Not

  • Though majority of the movie is in a good feel, the sequences involving the father of Wadjda and his decisions could have been portrayed in a better way.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

For a normal story of childhood desire, Wadjda is brilliant and it strikes the right chords with what people’s ambitions are and how many sacrifices they are prepared to do to feed their ambitions. In doing so, the director has been satiating enough in the best possible way.