“Lingui” –“Sacred Bonds” [MOVIE REVIEW]
Achouackh Abakar Souleymane as Amina in “Lingui.” Photo courtesy of MUBI. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun has written and directed a heartfelt drama about the bonds between a mother and her child under difficult, nay, impossible times. Set in N’Djamena, Chad, the lives we see in this dusty metropolis of shacks, cinder block buildings, and open air marketplaces are marginal, at best. But for Amina, a single mother of teenaged Maria, existence is even more tenuous. Amina attends the Mosque regularly where the Iman constantly reminds her that God will forgive her only through constant prayer. If she misses a service, he is a scolding presence on her doorstep. It’s not really a door, though. It’s a piece of corrugated metal attached tenuously to a frame yielding a modicum of privacy for her and her daughter in their small boxy shack. In many ways, this dirt-floored hovel is representative of Amina’s lot in life, trapped in a judgmental patriarchal society ruled by cultural and ethnic beliefs that marginalize women. Amina supports the two of them by weaving basket-like portable stoves from the steel wires found in tires. It is a grueling, meticulous, and dangerous task. She buys the tires from…
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