Wadjda: The little rebel!

Wadjda is the first film from Saudi Arabia to be nominated for Oscars award this year. It is the official entry in the Best Foreign Film Category. The film should be called a bold attempt given the Saudi Arabian conservative circumstances.

Director: Hafeesa al-Mansour

Film Clip

The film is about Wadjda, an 11-year old girl, whose life desire is to buy a cycle for herself. It is near impossible for a girl to ride cycles in Saudi Arabia, given the religious patriarchy. But Wadjda is little bit of a rebel and wants to get it at any cost. In depicting Wadjda’s pursuit to buy a cycle, the director brilliantly presents before us different facets of a Saudi woman. Wadjda’s mother has her own daily anxieties to deal with. Her husband is out to marry another woman, and sadly, she has no control over it. Then there is the over-disciplinary and ultra conservative school headmistress who seems to have internalised the Islamic conservatism to perfection. While the director Haifaa al-Mansour suggests that it is only women who can liberate women, she also seems to send across a message that women can at times be the biggest hurdles on the way of their own liberation.

The story of the film is seen through the eyes of the protagonist Wadjda, played sensitively by the highly talented Waad Mohammed. The typical Middle-Eastern music adds colour to the narration. What makes this film important is the context in which it is narrated. Women have been fighting hard in Saudi Arabia to drive cars on the roads. The Muslim clergy is yet to be reconciled with such a demand. But, women are violating all ‘norms’ and are driving their private vehicles. This ‘revolt’ is symbolic of the greater freedom that Saudi women are demanding. Wadjda , incidentally, makes a similar, yet bold, statement en route to women’s liberation.

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

The Past: Struggle to pass over

In his recent French film The Past (2013), Academy award winning Iranian director Asghar Faradhi, carefully constructs a world of conflicted characters and fragmented relationships. Reminiscent of the Oscar award winning A Separation, this movie delves into the lives of a soon-to-be-divorced couple and explores the ripples created by their estrangement.

In the film, a French woman, Marie (Berenice Bejo) and an Iranian man, Ahmed (Ali Mosaffa), have been separated for four years.  The impetus to finalise their divorce occurs when Marie starts a new relationship with an Arab man, Samir (Tahar Rahim). While the relationship between Marie and Ahmad shows the flickering sparks of being an old married couple who have grown apart, the relatively nascent romance between Marie and Samir is tenuous and fraught with uncertainty. 

The strained dynamic between these three individuals is compounded by the fact that Samir is married and his wife is comatose. Furthermore, Marie’s daughters from a previous marriage (preceding her marriage to Ahmed) and Samir’s son are caught in the fray, struggling to grapple with the choices of their parents.  As the characters in the film negotiate their present realities, they are paralysed by their own pasts.

Faradhi peels off the layers of every character to expose the fears and truths that lie at their core. The characters in the film are inextricably bound to each other and their seemingly simple acts prove to have catastrophic consequences.  The director skilfully offers the audience a vantage point from which to explore these individuals and their revelations.

The French-Argentine actress Berenice Bejo (who gained renown for her role in The Artist) displays her versatility as the distraught and melancholic Marie. Ali Mosaffa’s character Ahmed is eager for resolution and evokes sympathy, becoming the perfect foil to Bejo. Elyes Aguis, who plays Samir’s young son Faoud, also delivers a heart-wrenching and noteworthy performance.

Director: Asghar Farhadi

Farhadi is a masterful storyteller with a flair for showcasing the nuances of human sentiments. What differentiates Faradhi’s film from the works of his directorial predecessors of the Iranian New Wave like Majidi or Kirostami, is that he extracts his protagonist (Ahmed) from the Iranian homeland. The movie unfolds in a quaintly French setting but maintains Iran as a motif. Farhadi creates a world where he explores the ideas of love, loss, remorse, tragedy and hope. His camera work, like that of Jon-Luc Godard, is unobtrusive. His portrayal of characters, like the films of Jon Renoir, is deeply humanist.

Subtle symbolism punctuates the movie. An ongoing renovation takes place in Marie’s home throughout the film, symbolic of the repairs that are due in her own personal life. In another scene, glass chandeliers jolt precariously in the back seat as Marie and Samir drive their car, representing the fragility of their relationship. Lastly, as Samir visits his wife in the hospital, her life hangs in the balance, as does the future of all the relationships between the various characters in the film.

Film clip

The Past fortifies Farhadi’s position as a ground-breaking film-maker with a definitive perspective on the human condition. It is Iran’s entry to the 86th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Whether or not it earns Farhadi his second Oscar award, it remains a testament to his directorial prowess.   

- Parinitha Shinde