my favorite movie of 2012:

Wadjda

[Arabic]      وجدة ‎

(Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Ahd Kamel, Sultan Al Assaf. Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour.)

This is the first movie ever shot all in Saudia Arabia, and the first full-length movie directed by a Saudi woman.

Kelly Jane Torrance describes Wadjda (that’s a Washington Times link which could limit your articles unless you subscribe):

The movie opens with the title character tying the purple laces of her Converse sneakers while listening to a catchy song by the American-based hipster band Grouplove. She might be a 12-year-old girl from any part of the world, except that her colorful hair barrettes are hidden under a black abaya: Wadjda … lives in a small town outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. …

She desires nothing more than a bicycle with green handlebars and ribbons that just arrived at a local shop. She’s saved a bit of money from selling homemade bracelets at school and asks her mom for a loan for the rest. “Have you ever seen a girl on a bike?” is her mother’s scornful reply. …

You might say, then, that this groundbreaking film is a sweet coming-of-age story about a girl who really wants to buy a bike. But it’s far more compelling — and subversive — than that implies. … Most of what you need to know about fundamentalist Muslim society is on screen. The boys wear comfortable white clothes to play in the park; girls are completely covered, head to toe, in black. Boys yell back and forth at each other while they play their games; girls must remain practically silent in public. As the strict school headmaster … says, “A woman’s voice is her nakedness.”

And “Wadjda” itself is certainly the product of a clear, strong voice. The film is filled with finely composed shots that show both the beauty and the ugliness of Saudi Arabia, inside and out.

(How to stream Wadjda.)

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.