(Afghanistan/France, 85 min.)
Written and directed by Barmak Akram
Starring: Wajma Bahar, Mustafa Abdulsatar, Haji Gul Asar,
Brehna Bahar
Did you see Wadjda
earlier this month? It might be easy to confuse Wajma with Wadjda given
the similarities of their titles. Moreover, a quick glance at the synopsis of
either film might not help distinguish Wajma
from Wadjda. Both films derive their
titles from the names of the heroines that drive their stories. Both films
offer timely dramatizations of the subjection of women in the Middle East, but
the treatment of the subject matter couldn’t differ more greatly from film to
film.
Wadjda gives a crowd-pleasing and optimistic story of the prospects for one young girl in Saudi Arabia, while the Afghanistan-set Wajma offers a grim, unsettling tale. Wajma suggests that the change hinted at in Wadjda is a process long in the making for a culture with such deeply rooted customs and ideologies. Both films are required viewing, although audiences should rightly find Wajma the more difficult and devastating experience of the two.
Wajma, which, like
Wadjda, has been selected to
represent its nation in this year’s race for Best Foreign Language Film at the
Academy Awards, is a disarming account of young love. The film is ironically,
if not deceptively, subtitled An Afghan
Love Story. This is not a love story. Wajma
is not a love story in the romantic sense, per se, but one senses that it gives
a realistic account of the circumstances that might befall a young Afghan woman
in love.
Wajma, played in a heartbreaking and natural performance by
Wajma Bahar, falls in love with Mustafa, played by Mustafa Abdulsatar, when the
two meet at a wedding in their village. Wajma and Mustafa begin courting on the
sly. Habits of propriety, the kind hammered in to Wadjda during her school
lessons, see Wajma sneaking into Mustafa’s apartment for a little visit or
maybe even some kissing. To do so in public would bring shame to both their
families.
The couple, however, has its first public date to celebrate
the news of Wajma’s acceptance into university. It’s a major milestone that
deserves its proper reward, albeit in a restaurant tucked away where nobody can
recognize them. Their amiable dinner scene cuts to a flushed Wajma as she sits
with Mustafa in the taxi on their way home. “We shouldn’t have done that,” she
frets. What happened between the cut that has the heroine so visibly anxious when
she should be beaming with pride?
When the news comes, it’s devastating. Wajma’s pregnancy
gives the audience a frighteningly lifelike account of what happens to a young
girl when she does what’s only natural to humans. The explosion of
culturally-bound honour performs an alarming about-face in her relationship
with Mustafa and, more dangerously, her father. Every ounce of blame is
attributed to the female. The consequences for Wajma are dire, although the
most upsetting punishment is that which she inflicts upon herself because
shame, honour, and tradition are so deeply ingrained in her own mind.
Barmak Akram underscores the urgency of Wajma’s situation by
setting this account in contemporary Afghanistan. Her fate is especially
disturbing thanks to the constant reminders that Wajma takes place in the here and now. As Wajma’s father works to
clear the fields of Afghanistan of the mines that remain from the war with
America, Wajma paints with tenacious
realism a portrait of a culture that is on the cusp on revolution, yet claiming
further victims by upholding backwards traditions. Questions of cultural
context might elicit a different reaction depending upon the geography of the
screening, but an argument needs to happen.
Wajma invites one
to enter the debate as its opening titles note that the film is based on several
true stories. Wajma, blurring the
line between fiction and reality thanks to the authenticity of both the
performances and minimalist aesthetic, tells a story that has unfolded too
often before. The film is a moving tribute to the women of Afghanistan as the
film climbs to its near-unbearable finale. Wajma:
An Afghan Love Story is ultimately a story of the love that mothers have
for their daughters. The film presents a plea that one generation may escape
the fate of the last. Wajma is a
difficult film, but a necessary one at that.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Wajma screens at the uOttawa Human Rights Film Festival Saturday,
Oct. 26 at 7:00 pm at Alumni Auditorium in the Jock Turcot University Centre.
The film screens in
Persian with English subtitles.
Please visit www.cfi-icf.ca for more information on films,
show times, and tickets.
Also screening at the festival:
Missing: Thursday,
Oct. 24, 6:30 pm [Review]
Hi-Ho Mistahey:
Friday, Oct. 25, 7:00 pm [Review]
Mohammed to Maya:
Friday, Oct. 25, 9:30 pm [Review]
