La candidata ideale

The film full of gentleness, support, beautiful women outside and inside and good music. We may have rare oportunity to see on screen how people in Saudi Arabia live and how women fight to be recognized just as always in this world. The audience at the film festival in Belgrade applauded after the film ended. Definitely worth seeing.

I watched The Perfect Candidate because I had previously enjoyed very much Wadja and I was not disappointed. The story is simple and touching, inviting the spectator to understand how gender dynamics work in Saudi Arabia. It is also a call for a more open society, embracing women's contribution to medicine, politics and music.

I found this film via the Florida Film Festival in 2020 as a feature film listing. I found the film to be both an entertaining film as well from the perspective of today's Saudi Arabian culture in general and issues for Saudi women in particular quite educational. A plus in the movie was the focus on the Saudi musicians and singers who were playing live gigs that have recently been allowed by the government in Saudi Arabia. I found the film well worth my time.

As "The Perfect Candidate" (2019 release from Saudi Arabia; 101 min.) opens, we see a women driving her car to work. Turns out she is Dr. Maryam, working in the emergency room of a new hospital, with its access road not even paved and full of mud. Dr. Maryam then wants to attend a medical conference in Dubai, but her travel permit is about to expire and she needs to renew it. Along the way, by happenstance she files the paperwork to become a candidate for the municipal council, and she and her two strong-willed sisters go to work... At this point we are less than 15 min. Into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from Saudi director Haifaa al-Mansour. Her directing debut was 2012's "Wadjda", which was an unexpected but sensational critical AND commercial success (within the art-house theater circuit of course). After directing two more conventional Western films (Mary Shelley; Nappily Ever After), she returns to her Saudi roots to being a new tale of female empowerment in impossible circumstances. The idea of a young professional woman running for a seat on the municipal council is as inconceivable as was the notion of a young girl wanting to ride a bike (the main theme of "Wadjda"). In that sense, "The Perfect Candidate" is a logical companion film to "Wadjda". The film also gives us a rare inside glimpse of what day-to-day looks like in a place like Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to phantom for us, I'm afraid. Ultimately "The Perfect Candidate" is another plea for a kinder, more just, more equal Saudi Arabia, and Haifaa al-Mansour is to be commended for bringing us these films. (Of course, the film is not really intended for consumption in Saudi Arabia, a country that until 2018 didn't have a single movie theater. That is very slowly starting to change.) Bottom line: "The Perfect Candidate" is not the 9 star diamond that was "Wadjda", but it is a solid 7 star film, period.

"The Perfect Candidate" premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, yes almost 2 years ago. Then this week, it opened out of the blue at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, somewhat to my surprise. The Wednesday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (4 people in total). Doesn't matter. I am quite certain that this movie will find a larger audience once it starts streaming on various platforms and also is released on DVD/Blu-ray. If you have any interest in what life is like for women in Saudi-Arabia, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Better to perform than conform! I'm really fond of Al-Mansour's smooth style of protest drama portraying bold and profound female protagonists who raise a voice against the calloused cultural concerns in Saudi Arabia to spark a debate upon the strict patriarchal mindset. She paves an undulating yet bright path of possibility leading toward tolerance and acceptance by deconstructing sexist tradition of theocracy.