Overview
Hala is an independent film that traces a woman’s journey to self-discovery.
This film is directed by Minhal Baig and was released in 2019. It is acknowledged a semi-autobiographical portrayal of Pakistani-American family dynamics to reveal the life of a teenage girl who is torn between her obligations and her aspirations in life. After the film’s initial release at the Sundance Film Festival, it became widely available on other digital streaming platforms.
Hala revolves around a Pakistani-American woman named Hala who is played by Geraldine Viswanathan. The film captures the profound and tumultuous journey of a woman’s life. Rather than bringing loud and colorful conflict to the film, the director skillfully focuses on minute and tender elements like cultural behaviors and the stillness.
Plot Synopsis
The movie revolves around Hala Masood, a Pakistani-American Muslim girl living in Chicago with her traditional immigrant family. Hala is seventeen years old and on the surface, she seems to be an obedient child. She performs well on her studies and is calm and well-mannered. To add on, she wears a hijab where she says her prayers and assists her mother with her chores. Though she fulfills her end of the bargain as a compliant child, she and like many other teenagers, is silently defiant.
When alone, Hala dreams of romantic freedom, skateboards, and writes poetry. She develops a crush on Jesse, a white classmate from her English class. This blend of artistry and infatuation is at odds with her public image, and that friction is the emotional core of the film.
Erum, Hala’s mother, is deeply conservative and a traditional Pakistani rail. Zahid, her father, is more easy-going and caring. Hala’s nurturing Zahid helps her chase her dreams. He embodies the father figure Hala praises and the Pakistani’s she loves, but a family emergency exposes the unsettling fractures amidst their family’s painted veneer of fusion.
With the rigidity of her childhood starting to crack, Hala begins to confront her deep-seated wishes, resulting in a more public persona. Her emotional dizzying fusion is aggravated with a kiss she shares with Jesse, dialogue with a kindhearted mentor, and her father’s secret infidelities. This emotional storm leaves Hala’s identity in a shambles. As a daughter and a student, the identity she chooses is the future she carves for herself as a woman.
Cast and Characters
Hala Masood’s Character Geraldine Viswanathan
Hala is played by Geraldine Viswanathan, who gives the character remarkable nuance. She employs an understated and expressive performance which evokes the confusion and quiet rebellion of a young woman who is navigating a web of identities. Her ability to express emotion through small, almost imperceptible movements makes her performance especially powerful.
Azad Khan as Zahid Masood (Hala’s Father)
As Zahid, Khan Masood portrays a character who is an initially more open-minded parent, but reveals himself to be deeply flawed and full of contradictions. Khan’s grasp of the role is layered, underscored by revealing complexities of immigrant fatherhood that viewers would not expect.
Purbi Joshi as Erum Masood (Hala’s Mother)
Joshi describes Erum as emotionally numb, harsh, and distant, but also describes her as strong and resilient. By bringing warmth to her character, Joshi is able to successfully transform a role who through the lens of sociocultural assumptions would be a one-dimensional figure.
Jack Kilmer as Jesse
As a character, Jesse is Hala’s quiet crush and a gateway into a new world. Kilmer’s performance defies the clichés of exploration into savior complexes, portraying instead authentic and overthrown youthful doubt.
Gabriel Luna as Mr. Lawrence
Mr. Lawrence, as Hala’s English teacher, offers Hala guidance and encouragement. At the same time, the role raises pertinent questions about teacher boundaries and the complexities of mentorship.
Direction and Style
As the writer and director of the film, Minhal Baig has created something that touches upon the self and is intimate and deeply personal. As a Pakistani-American, Baig approaches the film and its materials with sympathy and authenticity.
The film is, and is meant to be, aesthetically minimalistic. Hala is further connected to the audience by the soft lighting, quiet spaces, and intimate close-ups that lack sweeping scores and visual gimmicks. The use of long silences, and naturalistic dialogue captures the essence of the film’s atmosphere.
In the film, the juxtaposition of home versus school, tradition versus individuality, and confinement versus expression is emphasized through the camera work. Hala is often physically and emotionally isolated in the frame, which reinforces her otherness and internal friction.
Themes and Analysis
- Identity and Duality
Hala explores the duality of self and cultural heritage in tension. As Hala is a first generation American, she struggles to find a balance between trying to uphold her parents tradition and exercising her personal self.
- Gender and Autonomy
The film looks into the expectations of women—especially within a religious and cultural conservatively framed lens. Hala’s journey is to reclaim her body and voice in a world that defines her without a future and a lot of demanded silence.
- The Parents’ Complexity
Instead of showing parents as strictly oppressive or abusive, the film looks into their humanity. Erum and Zahid are both trying their best and, like all of us, are influenced by their own history. They are attempting to nurture their daughter in a world that has changed beyond recognition since the world they grew up in.
- Silence and Subtext
Hala is a quiet film, and much is left unsaid. This choice mirrors the emotional climate of the protagonist’s existence, where sighs and silence accompany a world that is self-expression is tightly curated.
- Religion as a Living Practice
Instead of overlooking Islam, the film portrays the Islam as an integral component of Hala’s life. Although Hala’s relationship to faith evolves throughout the film, it is never mocked or rejected. Rather, the film highlights the gap between belief and cultural manipulation.
Reception and IMDb Rating
As of 2025, Hala holds a rating of approximately 6.0/10 on IMDb. This rating reflects a combination of critical and positive feedback. Audiences appreciated Hala for the authenticity of its plot, as well as its sensitive portrayal and excellent lead performance. A portion of the audience, however, felt the plot developed too slowly and was too emotionally muted, too predictable, or lacking in overt conflict and resolution.
Most reviews of the movie praised the direction by Minhal Baig and Geraldine Viswanathan’s breakout performance. The film has also been praised for its role in the diversification of the coming-of-age genre and for representing the experiences of ignored voices in Western cinema.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
Genuinely Muslim-American narrative
Personal storytelling that feels honest
Nuanced performances
Emotionally rich subtle arcs that pack a punch
Weaknesses:
Perceived as slow and boring to viewers expecting a conventional narrative.
Minimalist style might feel slow and quiet to audiences seeking more dramatic turns.
Some sub-plots like the teacher-student dynamics feel vague or incomplete.
Conclusion
Hala is an understated film that quietly, but profoundly, builds its narrative. It captures the essence of a young woman’s struggle in a world that tries to narrate her journey. For audiences who cherish culture-driven, character-focused films, Hala is a film that should not be missed.
Hala is not solely a tale about tradition or faith or the wildfires of teenage years. It’s the story of the intricate process of becoming. And in the silence, stumbles, and small wins of Hala Masood, we witness this profound truth: growing up is, and has always been, challenging, especially when straddling two worlds.
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