Rent Sisters in Law (2005)
3.8 of 5 from 58 ratings
1h 44min
- General info
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- Synopsis:
- Award-winning documentary focusing on justice in the Muslim village of Kumba Town in Cameroon. The town is overseen by the progressive female partnership of prosecutor Vera Ngassa and court president Beatrice Ntuba, who work together to help women to speak out and fight back against assumptions of patriacrchal priviledge in modern-day Africa. The cases include Sonita, a young girl who accuses a neighbour of rape; Manka, a six-year-old who has been beaten with a coat-hanger; and Amina, a wife seeking divorce from her abusive husband, All three are given the sort of support that extends beyond legal advice and becomes a crucial act of empowerment.
- Actors:
- Vera Ngassa, Beatrice Ntuba
- Directors:
- Florence Ayisi, Kim Longinotto
- Producers:
- Kim Longinotto
- Studio:
- Drakes Avenue
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest
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Reviews (2) of Sisters in Law
A Better Place - Because Of Two Women. - Sisters in Law review by NC
Kim Longinotto and her collaborators have been responsible for several fascinating documentaries. In Japan, 'Gaea Girls' tells the tale of female wrestlers, and their ferocious training regime. 'Shinjuku Boys' takes us into the world of trans people: their struggle within themselves, as well as with the outer world. In Iran, she made 'Divorce Iranian Style' and 'Runaway', set in, respectively, a divorce court and a refuge for women seeking shelter from abuse.
In 2005 she turned her attention to a law court in Cameroon, where two assertive women refuse to allow patriarchy, centuries-old custom, or even Sharia Law from preventing justice. Court President Beatrice Ntuba and prosecutor Vera Ngassa take on a domain where beatings, rape and disparagement are endemic; where a (male) family friend can witness such things and still proclaim the husband and wife 'a happy couple'. This is a culture where women are married off at 14, and from then on live a life of relentless work and child-bearing. Women seem to be lucky if they are treated as second-class citizens - slaves and property are nearer the mark.
That is until grievances are taken to the Women Lawyers Association. There, perhaps for the first time, men come up against women stronger than themselves, and the bemusement it causes sometimes affords wry humour.
But it is not just men who are brought before the court. A child has been beaten so severely that weals are revealed all over her body. Her aunt is shown no mercy during questioning and judgment. The child's family gather around and evince horror at her treatment. A query has to arise as to how they were apparently quite happy to forget she ever existed - until the cameras turned up to film the proceedings. There is a scene in the prison which eradicates any satisfaction the viewer may have at seeing the aunt punished.
Longinotto has done it again. This is documentary film-making at its finest. All hail the two 'sisters in law' in Cameroon who are fighting to make the world around them a better place.
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Great in fascination factor - Sisters in Law review by BN
Initially as no reviews were available, I rather naively thought from the cover picture and title that this would be an interesting drama about sisters in British law, having just watched a couple of UK legal dramas so was surprised to find that this was not only a documentary film but took place in the West African country of Cameroon.
I was under the impression Cameroon was French speaking but in this apparently Muslim dominant state they seem to use English and pidgeon English. Definitely needed the subtitles!
The sisters are a hard-hitting judge-prosecuter and a lawyer doing their best against entrenched ideas of male superiority and features several real cases mostly relating to children and women woefully abused by both males and females. Gripping stuff.
Surprises me that the sisters as a formidable force don't get a lot of retaliation as they tend to state very feminist views (good for them!) but the like of which would be bound to piss the local men off - and is Cameroonian law so advanced that it affords inherent governmental legal protection for defenceless women against centuries of Islamic codes of conduct and the still commonly held views that women are simply chattels and objects for sexual gratification, both in or OUT of marriage?
What is not explained is either of the sisters' backgrounds - where were they were trained, or their reasons for why have they taken on the local establishment ? An interesting eye-opener nevertheless.
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