WADJDA ****

"Wadjda" is an important film in world cinema, being the first film from Saudi Arabia to be directed by a woman and one of the first to gain international recognition but while you're watching it, it doesn't feel 'important' at all but just hugely charming and you think that maybe its importance simply lies in it being one of the great films about childhood. The title character is a young girl living in Riyadh who dreams of owning her own bicycle even if girls are not really permitted to ride bicycles. When she sees a beautiful bike in a shop she decides to do what she can to get the money to buy it.

Haifaa Al-Monsour's film is certainly radical coming, as it does, from a culture where women and girls are treated very differently from other parts of the world but it is so open and funny and with such a wonderful performance from Waad Mohammad as Wadjda, (it's one of the great child performances), that you never think of it being radical. Indeed, if it tells us anything it's that people are the same the world over, especially children. Yes, in the overall scheme of things "Wadjda" is important but it is, above all, hugely enjoyable.