Lingui: The Sacred Bonds

""Lingui", the new film from screenwriter and director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun ("A Screaming Man"), echoes far beyond its dramatic dimension. With peaceful cinematography, full of close-ups and silent scenes, we follow the life of Amina, a single mother trying to help her daughter, Maria, get a safe abortion. Even if the script initially seems simple, the social aspects put the lives of these two women in danger. More than maternal love, the expression "lingui" is a term used in Chad - Central African country where the movie is set - that represents empathy and altruism, mainly when all the institutions of the system seem designed to be against you. Beyond the fact that the meaning of the expression is poetic and inspiring, the production impacts the viewer by unmasking the structural misogyny of that society. "Lingui" is objective, with the same explosion of colors and cultural richness already seen previously in Haroun's cinema. However, the main thing in this cathartic experience is precisely the message about female emancipation: it does not come easily or without effort, but sisterhood can be an inexhaustible source of strength to, one day, finally reach that end."