[Director Haifaa] Al-Mansour doesn’t explain the particulars of Saudi culture for Western viewers. Rather, she drops us in, sans exposition, to experience and piece it together ourselves.

| Jul 29, 2024

Fortunately, Wadjda goes beyond the simple delineation of a quotidian drama about a foreign culture that's hard to understand and does so through the protagonist's hope and optimism. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 14, 2023

Films like these are insightful and useful instruments for change.

| Feb 24, 2021

Wadjda builds a complex portrait of a place and people around a simple story.

| Jan 20, 2021

For years, aspiring feminists had Jo March; now, we have Wadjda. [TOP 50 FILMS OF THE DECADE]

| Dec 4, 2019

Haifaa Al Mansour is clearly one those people who will change the world, both within the Arab world and outside. This is Wadjda, hear her roar!!!

| Nov 27, 2019

Something kind of radical, a quiet rebuke of repressive religious values that make no sense in a modern world.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 7, 2019

Wadjda isn't angry or sentimental. Rather it ends up being a heart-warming and positive story with some laughs and tears along the way.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 8, 2019

Wadjda is unstoppable, and the character will no doubt serve to empower many young Saudi girls.

| Original Score: 8.8/10 | Apr 11, 2019

As with the best work of Disney, Pixar, Studio Ghibli et al, al-Mansour's sweet-natured debut offers both fun and thought provocation for younger and older audiences alike, belying its complexity with a universal tale that speaks to the many.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 26, 2019

A staggeringly assured cine-essay on female self-determination.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 22, 2019

Though people will talk about how it breaks boundaries and how pioneering it is, that's not what you most need to know. What you most need to know is that it's fascinating, involving, moving, an entirely excellent film in its own right.

| Sep 5, 2018

Wadjda is a groundbreaking film no matter how you look at it. It's also an exceptional one.

| Aug 28, 2018

Waad Mohammed as the protagonist gives a great performance. She's sarcastic, funny, mischievous and sweet depending on what the situation calls for.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 14, 2018

There's a sense of hope that resonates with a character as confident as Wadjda that can't be ignored.

| Original Score: A- | Jan 26, 2018

In presenting fine details and focusing on her characters rather than on a political agenda, Al-Mansour has created a perfect little movie that just happens to be set against an imperfect and deeply misogynistic society.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Dec 3, 2017

Wadjda gives Westerners an opportunity to see day-to-day life, and it is a fascinating view.

| Nov 29, 2017

Determinedly non-preachy, non-bitter and rapturously uplifting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 5, 2017

A moving film that is punctuated by two heartening debut performances Wadjda never stops to second guess itself in its intent or declaration.

| Original Score: A | Sep 5, 2017

Rather surprisingly, a substantially fun movie.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 30, 2017