Film

Sisters in Law (2005)

Director: Kim Longinotto, Florence Avisi

Movie review

From Time Out London

Court TV Africa-style, Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi’s doc looks at the sharp end of the Cameroon justice system, following several cases in the Muslim village of Kumba Town. As with her 1998 film ‘Divorce Iranian Style’, Longinotto’s unobtrusive, watchful approach picks up on the human drama of dry court procedure (conducted in English and a beautifully percussive Pidgin dialect): the desperation of the wife who wants a separation from her abusive husband; the terror of the ten-year-old girl beaten by her aunt. But for all the harrowing detail, the film presents a positive view of the Cameroon prosecution service – embodied by the formidable duo of state prosecutor Vera Ngassa and court president Beatrice Ntuba – that will surprise Western viewers with low opinions of the law in the developing world. It’s moving too, never more so than when the child-beating aunt begs on her knees for forgiveness from her ten-year-old victim. A stirring movie about the ameliorative power of justice and mercy in a fascinating part of the world.

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