Language: Hindi
Rating: Unrated
The story follows an elderly and widowed woman, Gangoobai, who works as a maid for a wealthy family. One day she witnesses the daughter of the family trying on a beautiful Gara Sari from an expensive upscale store called Ardra. She’s so in love with the sari that she can’t sleep at night and begins to save money for the next four years to buy it. Upon going into the city to the store Ardra, they at first dismiss her because she looks like a maid and they believe her to be to poor to afford one and try to dismiss her, but she shows them the money she saved up and wins they agree to take her offer.
It’s not a story that pulls your heart strings but it is very cute. Without giving too much away, Gangoobai starts to change the lives of the people she meets in the city one by one. It’s definitely a heart warming film and it left me with a smile on my face.
Language: Arabic
Rating: Unrated
Said to be the first feature length film shot in Saudi Arabia and the first film shot by female director Haifaa Al-Monsour, the story follows Wadjda, a ten year old girl living in a conservative world who is always pushing boundaries. Wadjda gets into an argument with a neighborhood boy named Abdullah, who she wasn’t supposed to be playing with, she sees a green bicycle and falls in love with it. She wants the bike so that she can beat Abdullah in a race but society says that girls can’t ride bikes as it will damage their virtue. Wadjda tries to earn the money herself while her mother is busy trying to talk her husband out of bringing in a second wife. Wadjda eventually enters a Koran reciting competition at her school. The prize of which is enough money to buy her bike.
This film is really cool. Its not something I’ve seen before or at least something I’ve seen from this perspective. I feel like countries in the middle east are often shown in a bad light by television and seeing a movie from another perspective can definitely change you thinking. This is just a really wonderful film that I wish more people would take the time to see.
FarAwayForeignFilms 