18.06.2023
Amjad Al Rasheed’s feature “Inshallah a boy” is Jordan’s first film ever selected by the Cannes Film Festival. It is the story of a desperate widow’s trials, a woman who has no power over her fate. “Inshallah a boy” is a highly emotional drama dealing with the enduring misogyny of a patriarchal society.
Showcased in Critics’ Week, the picture was awarded the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, worth €20,000.
The story, written by the director, focusses on a 30-year-old woman named Nawal (played by actress Mouna Hawa) who, after the sudden death of her husband, embarks on a fight to keep her part of the inheritance in order to save her daughter and her home.
The director and writer portrays a widow whose voice matters little and is seen as someone unreliable and unable to take care of her daughter. The only option presented to her by a patriarchal society is to submit to her relatives and eventually remarry another man. The movie is also a story about the friendship between a muslim woman and a Christian one, both victims of their patriarchs.
In his director’s notes, Al Rasheed disclosed that the picture was inspired by the struggle of a close relative who dedicated her life to her family’s service and lived with a man who made her gradually unrecognisable to herself.
“Inshallah A Boy” is a wish said to pregnant women in Arab societies.
