A fine example of the fly-on-the-wall documentary, “Sisters in Law” plants its unblinking cameras in the law offices and courtrooms of a town called Kumba, in Cameroon. Here we watch justice in a whole different way.
What’s so striking about the system is that, in a male-dominated society, two women are key legal authorities: prosecutor Vera Ngassa and judge Beatrice Ntuba, both no-nonsense types. These formidable ladies oversee a small collection of cases, which we watch in detail.
The real through-line is provided by a woman who is petitioning for divorce from her husband of almost two decades. Although he beats and rapes her, the legal system has afforded wives little help in escaping abusive husbands – until now.
This patient, steadfast woman keeps going through legal steps (including the disapproval of male village elders) to get her legal freedom. Her husband, who doesn’t strenuously deny the charges against him, seems baffled by her insistence.
Two cases involving children are harder to watch. In one, a nine-year-old girl brings rape charges against a neighbor – at one point standing in the judge’s chambers while the accused man sits directly behind her. Many of the procedures in this world seem casual, yet they seem to get the job done.
We also follow the sad saga of a six-year-old girl, Manka, who wanders into the life of a gentle fellow one day. She’s been beaten by her aunt and the judge and prosecutor take her case personally. This is an involving story that takes weeks to unfold.
Like the other stories in the film, you watch this case with amazement. Not only are the legal issues absorbing, but so is the fact that everybody concerned has no self-consciousness about cameras watching them.
Along with the court cases, the movie is valuable for showing glimpses of life in a poor village – the ways of doing things, the references to weddings made “country style,” the influence of Islam. Some of the women talk about changing the tradition of marrying girls off after they reach puberty, but clearly the system remains largely in place.
Recently a French film, “110th District Court,” showed how watchable undramatized justice could be. And reality TV has many examples of courtroom programs: Judge Judy and her spawn. “Sisters in Law” taps into that (the judge is fond of scolding), plus it has the attraction of taking us into a new locale.
Judge Beatrice Ntuba and prosecutor Vera Ngassa in “Sisters in Law.”
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