Naga— Hello from Saudi Arabia!

I don’t know if the translation is correct but it’s what they show during a conversation between Sarah and Saad.

Naga; a Saudi Arabian film about conservatism, rebellion and the struggle in between— portrayed through the relationship between a stereotypical father and his daughter who is symbolic to every woman in there who wants to break free but eventually has to surrender against the patriarchy.

I have never watched any Saudi Arabian film, never knew any existed but here it is. And I am glad it’s a blast, well, at least in my opinion it has the potential to go beyond a 5.3 IMDb rating if the cinematography and conceptual dramatisation are considered alone. But critics know the best, I guess.

The story takes place in the desert, among the dunes in a classic car with the occasional presence of metaphorical camels and some punks. Maybe the camels symbolise the endurance of women in this part of the world while the punks suggest the restlessness of the society where everything might seem to be in perfect harmony but deep down, there could be something else— could there be social classification, injustice, oppression, corruption, and violation of human rights?

Whatever, I am not into their society but the movie.

Imagine you are killed cause you helped a woman give birth to her baby, your role is just a doctor, nothing else. That’s kind of shocking but societies can have surprising traits like these. Or, you fear your father like the undertaker and worry about your life if you’re late to home after the agreed time. But you are rebellious of a kind, so, you ought to take the risk, right? That’s what our central character, the young Sarah did going out with her boyfriend to a party flooded with drugs and danger at every bend.

And we have our camel friend. The gothic and mysterious character haunts Sarah to the end of the movie and makes the movie kind of boring in some places, in my honest opinion. I don’t find any sensible connection between the chasing of the mother camel which has gone rogue over her young cub getting killed by the car of Sarah’s boyfriend and eventually giving up after giving birth to another cub in the middle of the desert. Perhaps it’s the quote I mentioned at the beginning of this review that the writer/director wanted to emphasise. Perhaps that’s why the camel scene is shown repeatedly, making it kind of redundant. But the pain is real, as a mother. I think it has a connection, if there is really any, with the opening scene where Sarah’s mother was killed (most likely) by her father for being assisted by a male doctor during childbirth. Here, the camel lost its cub, on the other hand, Sarah lost her mother— united by pain but in a different context.

The movie is half-enthralling, half-boring— I liked how Arabs danced after their national team won the game (I am motivated to visit Arab country to dance like that) , liked the idea of selling ice cream in the middle of nowhere, and mostly the isolated roads; ideal for overspeeding :p

At the same time, I hated not diving deep into the camp in that desert, not focusing more on other characters, and not shedding light on the social perspective of the affair between Sarah and Saad. Although I think the movie deserves a better ranking, perhaps it’s too much of what I want. Still, you are welcome to watch.

_^ⓒ