Wadjda

She feels like a real person and, as a result, imbues the film’s most on-the-nose moments—like its climactic Koran reciting competition—with a sense of life and unpredictability.

As simple and charming as you could wish for, this is a genuinely pioneering debut from a female Saudi filmmaker and a striking piece of work by any standards.

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 a Riyadh society split between the home, the madrasa and the shopping mall.

Writer/director Haifaa al-Mansour’s story is relatively simple, although the world it reveals is deeply complex. Strong performances keep the focus on the drama...

...må vara sockersöt och enkel, men avtrycket filmen lämnar efter sig blir så mycket större just för att den utspelar sig där kvinnors värld är oändligt mycket mer begränsad än här.

Filmens største force er dens evne til skildre ordinære hverdagsforhold fra hjem til skole.