‘Hijra’ Review: A Saudi Tale of Disappearance, Family and Female Bonds

Stories told from the point of view of young girls seem to be an early trend at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Films from different corners of the world share that perspective, and many of them are directed by women. In Hijra, the central character is Janna (Lamar Fadan), a 12-year-old girl who, when the story begins, is on a bus filled with women making the pilgrimage to Mecca. She’s not alone. With her are her older sister Sara, 18, and her grandmother, Sitti. What begins as a long-awaited journey takes an unexpected turn when, during a stop along the way, Sara gets lost in the crowd and disappears.

We don’t get to know much about Sara, but from the opening image —wearing headphones, half-detached from the rituals around her— and the final glimpse we catch of her, it feels like her disappearance may have been intentional, perhaps even an escape. With Sara gone, Janna and her grandmother are taken off the bus with their luggage and left behind, stranded, as they try to figure out what happened. Determined not to let the father find out, they decide to look for her on their own. This marks the start of an unexpected adventure that will divert them completely from their original path and lead them into a far more complex journey—familial, personal, and emotional.

It quickly becomes clear that grandmother Sitti (Khairia Nathmy) is a harsh, rigid, and unyielding woman, and that the family history is complicated. The two end up riding with Ahmed (Nawaf Al-Dhafiri), a man trying to make some money from the pilgrims, who becomes their driver as they search for Sara. Their travels take them to Jeddah, to other relatives, and toward hidden truths about the missing girl. But more importantly, the trip forces a recalibration of relationships—especially the strained, rule-bound dynamic between Sitti and her granddaughters, and, in many ways, Sitti’s relationship with the world itself.

The second feature by Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen is a story of women trying to navigate a world that has largely sidelined them. Suspicion, complications, and restrictions shadow their journey—two women traveling alone with an unrelated man is, in that context, a serious potential problem. Yet the experience transforms them, turning their detour into a parallel pilgrimage that doubles as a journey through Saudi Arabia, its regions, and its people. Along the way, grandmother and granddaughter begin to see each other differently, learning about the past of one and the possible future of the other.

Although the story is set in 2001, there aren’t many ways in which it feels distant from the present. Hijra is a visually polished and carefully crafted film, its strength lying in the faces of its protagonists, whose closeness on screen conveys the tension, anxiety, and emotion that run through this unusual road trip. Balancing tradition and modernity, respect for customs and critique of their rigidity, Ameen’s film belongs to the “serious, respectable” tradition of works often seen at international festivals. But that doesn’t lessen its occasional power or its undeniable ambition.