Adwa Bader
Sarah
Overview
Stranded amid Riyadh's desert dunes, Sarah, a local Saudi girl, escapes heartaches and the vengeance of a vigorous camel after discreetly sneaking out of her parent's home for a romantic date that landed her astray.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
6 min readThe Desert as a Cage: How Naga Turns a Camel Into a Monster of Patriarchy
I’ve seen a lot of movies where animals become symbols—horses for freedom, dogs for loyalty, birds for the soul—but I’ve never seen a camel quite like this. In Naga, the titular beast isn’t just a creature with a grudge; it’s a force of nature, a furry, spitting embodiment of the rules Sarah (Adwa Bader) is trying to outrun. And outrun them she does, or tries to, in a night that feels less like a survival thriller and more like a fever dream of a society that won’t let her breathe.
The film opens with Sarah sneaking out of her parents’ house for a date, a simple act that, in the context of Saudi Arabia, carries the weight of rebellion. What follows is a night of escalating chaos: a car breakdown, a drug-fueled party, a hit-and-run, and, of course, the camel—a creature that, once provoked, becomes an unstoppable, vengeful force. It’s a lot.
Maybe too much. But then again, so is the pressure on Sarah to be perfect, to be obedient, to be anything but herself.
The first thing you notice about Naga is how it feels. The camera doesn’t just follow Sarah; it shakes with her. It spins, it tilts, it lurches.
At times, it’s like watching a horror movie through a drunk person’s eyes. The effect is intentional, I think—director Meshal Aljaser wants us to feel Sarah’s disorientation, her panic, her exhaustion. But there’s a fine line between immersive and nauseating, and Naga dances right on that edge.
Some viewers will find it thrilling; others will reach for the Dramamine. (I’m in the former camp, but I’ll admit I had to pause once or twice just to steady my stomach.)
The film’s visual style isn’t just about disorientation, though. It’s about trapping us in Sarah’s perspective. The desert, vast and empty, becomes a maze with no exit.
The countdown timer on screen—marking the hours until her curfew—isn’t just a narrative device; it’s a psychological prison. Every minute that ticks by is another minute she’s failing, another minute she’s disappointing the people who expect her to be someone she’s not. The camel, then, isn’t just a physical threat; it’s the manifestation of all those expectations, all that judgment, bearing down on her with relentless, slobbering fury.
Audience Opinions
Audience 5.9/10
"A wild, visually aggressive Saudi desert thriller powered by Adwa Bader’s performance but dragged down by dizzying camerawork and scattered storytelling."
Adwa Bader’s lead turn is widely praised as intense, charismatic, and believable, and the film’s music and bold visuals are often called thrilling, unique, or even legendary. At the same time, heavy camera shake, constant rotations, and an overstuffed, loosely structured plot leave a sizable portion of viewers exhausted, nauseated, or unconvinced by the narrative depth. latestnetflix.com's take is that Overall sentiment lands as mixed: for some it is one of the most daring local films in years, for others it is a stylish headache that sacrifices coherence for chaos.
What viewers praise
- Standout lead performance Adwa Bader is frequently singled out as perfectly cast, acting with enough conviction and presence to carry the entire film.
- Striking visuals and style The desert setting, color palette, and eccentric visual choices make the film feel distinctive and artistically bold.
- Energetic soundtrack The music is described as powerful and well-integrated with the imagery, heightening tension and atmosphere.
- Daring and bold tone The film is celebrated by some as one of the bravest and most experimental works in recent Saudi cinema, delivering a chaotic, night-long odyssey.
- Socially charged themes The story’s portrayal of a young woman under patriarchal pressure and the exposure of darker sides of society are appreciated as honest and gutsy.
Common complaints
- Overwhelming camerawork Frequent shaky shots and constant camera spinning are called excessive, headache-inducing, and sometimes unwatchable.
- Uneven narrative cohesion The plot is described as ideas thrown one after another, with a weak or thin structure that can feel chaotic rather than purposeful.
- Style over substance Several viewers feel the movie prioritizes flashy direction and trippy sequences over character development and a meaningful story.
- Physically exhausting experience Some report leaving with nausea, tension, or even trouble sleeping, feeling more battered than entertained by the relentless intensity.
- Divisive overall impact A portion of the audience calls it pointless or lacking clear meaning, even while acknowledging improvement in acting and craft.
Recommended for
Bold thriller seekers Saudi genre cinema explorers Visually experimental film fans Dark comedy thriller lovers Single-night survival stories Adwa Bader admirers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsMidnight Madness booked a Saudi she-camel
Peter Kuplowsky programs Toronto's Midnight Madness. He told Variety that Naga's opening minutes rattled him more than any other title in his 2023 midnight slate. The prologue is a 1970s burst of patriarchal violence. Then the film jumps to Sarah, a Riyadh woman on a shopping cover story, racing home before her father's curfew. Variety also printed the booking that the trade repeated. latestnetflix.com's read is that this was the first Saudi film selected for that midnight section.Netflix put it on the service on 7 December 2023. 
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Dating first, then a camel with a grudge
Meshal Al Jaser said he wanted the subculture of dating in Saudi and the old stories about camels that stay spiteful. "Basically, I just wanted to do a story that starts romantic and ends up with someone getting beat up by a camel." He told the studio it was a thriller comedy. They read it as a thriller. He still calls it a thriller comedy. Telfaz11 produced it with Netflix. Nawaf Alshubaili co-wrote. Ibraheem Alshangeeti shot it. TIFF lists a world premiere, Arabic, and 111 minutes. TMDB keeps the US date of 7 December 2023 and a 1 hour 53 minute cut. Rotten Tomatoes prints 1 hour 51 minutes for the stream. , , ,
Al Jaser grew up in Riyadh making clips while cinemas were banned. Variety says his Folaim YouTube channel passed 200 million views. The short Is Sumyati Going to Hell? played through Paramount and later landed on Netflix. Arabian Alien took a Sundance jury award in 2020. By 8 November 2023, WME had signed him. Asked about putting drugs on a Saudi screen, he said younger viewers treat the story as fiction and that he did not feel much risk. "Every good story is about a character making bad decisions." ,
A model doing the falls
Adwa Bader plays Sarah. Al Jaser told Variety she was a friend and a professional model, not a working actress. He had put her in a YouTube fight scene seven years earlier and wanted that physicality. "It's one thing to know how to act with expressions. It's another thing to fall on the ground and do Jackie Chan stuff." He said a lot of the cast were people he hunted down rather than trained actors, and that most locations were live, with barely any built sets. Yazeed Almajyul is Saad. Khalid Bin Shaddad is the father. Al Jaser said he wanted an anti-hero who embraces her flaw, not a social-realist victim. ,
Al Majalla noted the Arabic title as camel and tracked the film from Toronto to a Jeddah screening at the Red Sea Film Festival, then onto Netflix. What stuck in the trades is the package. A first feature whose monster is a she-camel, a lead who had never carried a movie, and a director who still talks about the animal as if it were holding a grudge from childhood stories. , ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.