The Perfect Candidate

This is a good film. The people in it are likeable, the story is good. It made me feel good watching it.

This film is not brilliant, but its worth checking out.

Its also worth checking out all the other reviews for this movie here on IMDB... clearly, a few are very threatened of change that a movie like this can help to create. Some of the reviewers say that the film has no accuracy to reality, but anyone who knows a thing or two sees the news such as 'Saudi women now allowed to drive" or the joke photo of the women's rights conference in SA attended by only men!

This film is a gentle examination of an educated women who wishes to improve things for all. What would make it better, is if it were true & if she had won. A Saudi female President or Prime Minister, that would be a great theme for a movie too. Or all those Saudi male leaders in therapy, while their wives run things for a while!

First of all I must say that to a certain extent this movie gives you an interesting look at a different part of the world, how people live there and what kind of problems they need to face. But sadly this is where the positive aspects end in my opinion.

This movie is about Maryam, a young Saudi-Arabian doctor who wants to run for the office in the local city elections but she has to struggle with a lot while the community does not accept her as their town's first female candidate. So we can see how women in different parts of the world live and with what kinds of problems they have to deal to be taken seriously in their workspace or the regular life.

Sadly the story itself is pretty boring and predictable. After like 20-30 minutes you can say how this movie ends and the build up for the climax is too long. The movie also couldn't really reach me emotionally due to the actors, because I wasn't able to sympathize with them. And when you finally reach the point where the movie actually gets a little bit exciting, the movie has almost ended. The cinamtography and the score were ok, but nothing great.

In the end I would still say that this is a movie you can definitly watch once, simply to get a different look at the world and maybe you can even enjoy the movie, because I'm sure that this movie can give hope to someone. But sadly this movie didn't work for me.

Haifaa al-Mansour is the greatest director of our generation. this is the second film of Haifaa al-Mansour that I've seen after her first debut film Wadjda which I've watched it back at Istanbul Film Festival. It's also the second Saudi Arabian Film that I've seen so far. Haifaa is one of the emerging director came out from Saudi Arabia. She has the distinctive authenticated voice to express herself and society in Saudi in her films.

The Perfect Candidate is another compelling and moving film about Woman Empowerment in the conservative society. It is well produced film. like how the main protagonist is portrayed as the strong optimistic woman who is resistance, stubborn, won't give up easily regardless of her prejudice patriarchic community in Saudi Arabia. I like the climax of the film. It is not a cliche happy ending but rather a subtle hopeful ending which opens up the discussion about feminism in our society.

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.