Review: 'Lingui, the Sacred Bonds,' Chad's Oscar entry, strikes a mighty blow against patriarchy
"Lingui, the Sacred Bonds," a taut, strikingly beautiful drama from the Chadian writer-director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, begins with a bracing image of a woman at work. Amina (Achouack Abakar Souleymane) makes her living selling small stoves that she makes at home from salvaged materials: She cuts wires out of tires, hammers them out and twists them into spiral-shaped grates. The camera registers the sweat on her brow and the strain in her muscles, but also the satisfaction in her eyes as she surveys her handiwork. She finds fulfillment, even pleasure, in this tough labor.
