Hala (2019), directed by Minhal Baig
Review of Hala (2019), directed by Minhal Baig
I bought an iPad, and surprisingly, they gave me Apple TV+ for free. There was a time limit of three months, so I immediately plugged into my calendar when to cancel it, because the movie pickings on there are absolutely terrible. They do the quality over quantity thing, which I get, but as a movie buff, I wanted more from it. Definitely going to cancel it later since I’m not into television as much.
This movie, however, was the only movie that actually interested me. Coming from a conservative Muslim background myself, and having an overbearing Iranian father, I could sympathize with the premise of this film. Although the main character is relatable to me, there are some questionable actions she took in the process of discovering herself. Which, I guess, is the messy part about being a teenager with immigrant parents in the United States.
With that being said, let’s dive into this review, shall we?
Content
Our main character in this film’s name is the title: Hala. She is the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, and has been faithful to her religion and parents until now. She is in her final year of high school, loves poetry, and has a crush on a white boy in her class. And suddenly she doesn’t want to adhere to the Muslim ideologies that she grew up with and begins to clash with her parents and their philosophy on how to survive in life.
I think what’s problematic about this movie is that it feeds into the cliche that Muslim girls and women are oppressed by their culture. I get that there are some aspects of Pakistani culture that can be demeaning to women when it comes to the patriarchy, but it becomes messy when you involve religion like this. There are girls that feel empowered by their hijabs and can still discover themselves without having to conform to Western ideologies. It would’ve been a more heartwarming story if she was capable of loving her culture more and accepted it rather than completely rejected it.
This is the same struggle a lot of kids from similar families go through, but I don’t think finding a white savior boy is the answer. There’s this acute sense of wanting to fit in kids like these feel, and I know it myself. I see why Apple chose it as one of the few films in which they actually have on this streaming service, and it can be relatable, but it falls flat in its execution. The main character also ruins her teacher’s career in the process, which isn’t exactly ideal as well.
We’ve got a long way to go for representation of Muslim cultures, because this is new territory for the cinematic world. The mother is the best acting, she’s such a hardass and depicted as traditional and it’s lovely. Absolutely believable. We also have this wonderful thread of literature being woven into the narrative itself, which adds a more nuanced complexity to the film.
Overall Thoughts
It’s an okay film at the end of the day. Hala can be relatable, but I think the reception would be radically different when you compare who you’re showing this to. I think you can be empowered with your religion and culture and don’t need to reject it in order to quote-on-quote be free, and that this feeds into more Western tropes of what a Muslim girl should be in America. But it’s also okay to depict this because there are girls who feel this way. It’s just tricky when you don’t find a right balance and it feeds into historical narratives.
