The only Cannes 2021 competition entry hailing from Africa, Chad-born director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s “Lingui, the Sacred Bonds” tries to use its exotic setting to infuse fresh blood into a familiar genre. There’s a lot of anger and sexism on display in this quietly told story. The two women at the center of it are mother Amina (Achouackh Abakar Souleymane) and her 15-year-old daughter Maria (Rihane Khalil Alio). Maria, acting all sullen and withdrawn, turns out to be pregnant. She wants an abortion, but that’s both illegal and against their Islamic religion, but that doesn’t stop Amina from seeking help and finding an underground doctor who demands 1 million francs. Desperation seeps into this story, the doctor ends up getting busted by the cops before the abortion is performed, which leads mother/daughter down a darkly unpredictable path. On-paper, “Lingui” plays like a token abortion drama, only the setting is very much different this time around, the familiar is turned into something freshly involving. Much like in Western-set abortion dramas, the women involved here all live in an environment that sets limits to their freedoms — Haroun’s anger can be heard loud and clear. [B]
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