An extraordinary story of a Saudi Arabian woman - film review

• Published date: 15 June 2021
• Date: 15 June 2021
• Author: HANNAH BROWN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Al-Mansour burst onto the international cinema scene in 2012 with Wadjda, a movie about a young girl who enters a Koran competition in order to buy herself a bike – something no one really thinks a girl ought to have – with her winnings. It was an upbeat story of a sweet but rebellious girl that may sound formulaic but which showcased an amazingly winning performance by Waad Mohammed in the title role and was absolutely wonderful. It was similar in tone and theme to Whale Rider, the story of a New Zealand girl smashing the taboos of Maori culture.

The Perfect Candidate is a look at what might happen to a girl like Wadjda when she grows up and still has to deal with the same logic-defying laws that oppress women. But, like Wadjda, it avoids preachiness and looks at the challenges of being a non-conformist. The movie was made in 2019, not long after Saudi women were allowed to drive and Maryam is often shown behind the wheel. This is a period when the rules are changing in Saudi Arabia and several of the other onerous, misogynistic laws depicted in the film have been eliminated since the film was shot.

The movie tells the story of Maryam (Mila Al Zahrani), a doctor who works in a clinic in a small hospital. Unmarried, she is law abiding, wearing a niqab when it is required and observing fasts. She lives with her sisters and her father, a widowed musician who is often on the road and unreachable, which gives Maryam a certain freedom at home. She faces all kinds of discrimination at work, exemplified in an early scene where an older man refuses to be treated by her, even though she is fully veiled, cursing the idea of female doctors and saying he would rather be taken care of by a male nurse.

A road that leads to the hospital is unpaved and floods often, due to a burst pipe, making it impossible for ambulances to pull up to the entrance and forcing orderlies to carry stretchers and wheelchairs through knee-deep mud. Her requests to the hospital administration that the road be repaired are ignored, as are her pleas to local bureaucrats and she ultimately decides that the only way for her to make a change is to run for the...