Lingui

Good theme but poorly told

Being a woman in any part of the world could be read as a survivalist story. Now imagine in a Muslim African country where you can't be a single mom, can't have an abortion, can't get pregnant and stay in school. There is simply no escape. Yet what a hopeful, but not cynical little story, conveyed with such subtlety -- if this was made in Mexico or Russia, we'd be getting a 150min miserabilist, fatalist tale of punishment.

Works best when closely following Amina's day to day activities; Haroun immerses his viewer into the world and society with a documentary level realism and successfully folds in the catalysing event in a naturalistic and believable way, so that we are lead down the path of what is a very subtle tract but without any moralising. It is a minor shame that the final act amps up the melodrama as if Haroun didn't quite trust the quiet truthfulness and directness established in the earlier scenes.