Drama

WAJDJA (2013)

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Haifaa al Mansour is Saudi Arabia’s first female film director and the director of the first film to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. That is huge.

The patriarchal society, in general, is outmoded, archaic and regressive. To deny or hide away from the subtle, powerful feminine energy is the kind of world I want no part of.
It lacks intelligence. Only when the balance is balance, equilibrium will be closer to being restored.
That being said, change can be very painful and takes time. This film is helping to usher in that time with compassion and love.

Haifaa al Mansour has made a beautiful, gentle film about a young girl who wants to buy a bicycle in a country where it is taboo for females to ride bikes.
A simple story, told with grace and elegance.
Any social commentary is here as observation as opposed to hammering home a strong political stance and that is where the biggest strength lies.

Amongst such strife and oppression it is so refreshing to see that this director decided to make a film like this. Kill them with love and beauty as opposed to shouting, spouting and spewing anger.

Waad Mohamed is wonderful as our plucky protagonist, charming and full of character as are all the supporting cast.

This was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars (2014).
It didn’t win but in order for it in the running it had to be submitted by Saudi Arabia officially, so on some level there is acceptance. That is huge.

Help usher in these changing times by supporting these artistic endeavours and telling everybody about it.
Not all will listen but some will hear.

4/5

BUY IT ON BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUBES HERE

HERE COMES THE DEVIL ‘Ah Hi Va el Diablo’ (2012)

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In the tradition of Hammer, Grand Guignol and the master of Italian horror Dario Argento,comes this Spanish tale of a family ripped apart by a strange encounter with a hill.

Mood and soundscape is the key to the horror here; the use of sound to provoke fear in the audience is very effective. This is eerie at its best. There are plenty of quick zoom shots that at first seem a little kitsch and outdated but after a while add to the unsettling nature of the story. There is one scene with an excessive use of stage blood (Argento homage) but otherwise this is predominantly an exercise in atmosfear.

A mother and father allow their kids to go up a hill while they stay in the car and what happens next is not for the faint of heart.
The mother and father jump to a conclusion and are consumed by the need for revenge.
Revenge is the best medicine if your preferred medicine of choice is poison.
It’ll get you in the end.
If the stories have taught us anything it’s that it’ll eat you up and you will equally be punished.

Here Come the Devil plays on your fears as the devil is wont to do and takes you on a journey you’re unlikely to forget.

The last shot is so disturbing in its ordinariness.
Evil takes its roots where it can, amongst the weak and easily influenced.

A truly unsettling film.

3.5/5

BUY THE BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE