Inshallah A Boy

Nawal (Mouna Hawa) lives a happy life with her husband, Adnan, and young daughter, Nora, in their modest apartment in Amman. When Adnan unexpectedly passes away, Nawal is thrown into grief. She is confronted almost immediately by Adnan’s brother, Rifqi, who demands not only repayments on a loan Nawal had no idea about, but a substantial share of the inheritance, including the family’s apartment. As Nawal has no son, inheritance laws dictate that Adnan’s relatives are equal beneficiaries to his estate. Faced with losing her home, Nawal is forced to use every tactic available to her as a court battle looms, raising the question: what if she were pregnant with a boy? With a beautiful and layered central performance by Hawa (also in A Gaza Weekend, SFF 2023), Inshallah a Boy powerfully depicts an admirable struggle against tradition and patriarchy.