Actualités

Inshallah a Boy is the subtle yet deeply affecting feature-length directorial debut from Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al Rasheed. This drama — which is Jordan's submission for the Academy Awards — follows Nawal, a mother whose husband dies suddenly one night, leaving her unmoored in a society dependent on husbands and fathers. Al Rasheed co-wrote the screenplay with Delphine Agut and Rula Nasser over the course of five years or so, and this meticulous editing paid off. It's clear that a great degree of care has gone into this story, which plays out steadily over the movie's 113-minute runtime.

So many elements of this project are impressive, from its elegant construction to the effortless conveyance of its ideas, it's smooth all the way through. This is not to say it's always an easy watch, several moments are far from it, but it's never forced or overly expositional. Our central character, Nawal, is played...