Director
Haifaa al-Mansour
Leading Actors/Actresses
Waad Mohammed
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd Kamel
Genre
Drama
Language
Arabic
Awards
Nominated for BAFTA for Best Foreign Film
Date of Release
2012
Producer
Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
Setting and Context
Saudi Arabia 2012
Narrator and Point of View
POV is that of Wadjda
Tone and Mood
Realism: Serious and Dramatic.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist is Wadjda. Antagonist is Ms. Hussa.
Major Conflict
Wadjda desires to buy a green bicycle, but she doesn't have the money to purchase it and Mother won't buy it for her.
Climax
Wadjda wins the Quran recital competition and the cash prize of SR1000, but Ms. Hussa gives her money away when she learns Wadjda wants to use it to buy a bike. Mother purchases the bike for Wadjda without her knowing.
Foreshadowing
Abdullah racing his bike away from Wadjda in the initial part of the film foreshadows Wadjda's doing everything she can to get the bike.
Understatement
It is understated that Mother would buy the green bicycle for Wadja.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
n/a
Allusions
The film is an allusion to how oppression creates the opposing need to express oneself and be free. It also alludes to how when a subculture is oppressed some of their own fall into line in agreement with the oppression, even becoming for legalistic than the opposing group.
Paradox
Wadjda wins the Quran recital competition and the cash prize money. Paradoxically she is not allowed to use it the way she wants and the money is given away by Ms. Hussa.
Parallelism
Wadjda's prize money being taken away from her by Ms. Hussa parallels Mother losing Father as he is married off to another woman who can bear him a son, which Mother cannot.
