“You’re the only stalker I know,” Dania tells Nawal (Mila Al Zahrani) after she’s tracked down the teen at a hookah bar in “Unidentified,” poking around into the murder of her classmate. Even a name for the deceased has been hard to come by when the circumstances surrounding her death could be embarrassing for the family when she was set to meet a man that wasn’t who she was arranged to be married to in a few weeks in Riyadh, but Nawal has been dogged in her pursuit when she can’t shake what she heard about the case from her perch making copies for the local police station and when Colonel Najib wants a female on hand for a first visit to the crime scene and the lone officer is out for the day, she is pulled into action, eventually more so than to Najib’s taste when she’s compelled to start an investigation outside of the one officially going on.
That Najib sees the value in a female presence on the case is a sign of progress for Saudi Arabia in the latest from “Wadjda” director Haifaa Al-Mansour, but that her investigative efforts are constantly being downplayed by her male superiors show there’s a long way to go for a society still in the throes of patriarchy in the murder mystery where as Colombo before her with his “one last question,” being underestimated comes to have its advantages for Nawal. Najib’s instincts were right about seeking out Nawal, both because of her gender and her tenacity as she starts snooping around and is invited into speak with the principal of the victim’s school and her mother, though usually the conversation ends prematurely once they realize what she’s there to talk about. In a society where women have been safer in silence, Nawal faces stone walls everywhere she turns, but as an aficionado of true crime podcasts, she isn’t easily discouraged and her interest in the case is significantly stronger than the men working it, leading to one small clue after another that ultimately starts adding up.
Well before she starts to figure things out regarding the girl’s cousin, a graffiti artist who may have been involved in the hit-and-run, Nawal’s resolve can be seen in Al Zahrani‘s poised performance, well worth tracking as she conducts an investigation where not being a professional can serve her well. Al-Mansour and co-writer Brad Niemann are able to add a little twist on even bigger ones when the gender of both the novice detective and the victim complicate matters with regard to Saudi law when identifying the corpse is more difficult since women’s fingerprints aren’t always recorded and there’s a deadline on the case when the body may be laid to rest before it is properly identified. Newly divorced, Nawal is a modern woman, ready to live on her own, much to her brother’s chagrin in the film’s opening minutes, but working the case reminds of how much she’s beholden to ideas of the past when her agency in aiding the investigation under the encouraging Najib has its limits and other women can only see the harm that will come in helping her.
There’s a police procedural quality that “Unidentified” inevitably makes the latest from Al-Mansour a little more mechanical than her other films, but also a little more pointed in its cultural nuances when it invites comparisons to how such narratives unfold elsewhere. The director who has shown great versatility with films ranging from “Mary Shelley” to “Nappily Ever After” proves she can make a lean and mean thriller as well and it is bound to bring a slight grin when “Unidentified” illuminates the folly of putting anyone in a box, suggesting everyone involved in the investigation could use a little more imagination to understand what women are capable of, both when it comes to solving crimes or even committing them. However in getting audiences to think about the future, Al-Mansour delights with a good old fashioned thriller.
“Unidentified” will be released by Sony Pictures Classics in early 2026.