How do the directors use aesthetics (I.e. the ‘look and feel’ of the film) to create a specific message for the audience?

With use of Social Realism, the directors chose this for the aesthetics of this film as they aimed to create a specific message to the audience of the troubles women face across the world globally and how it effects them.

Social Contexts –

Filmed in the rural community of Kumba Town, Cameroon, which is relatively poor and underdeveloped, the position of women is viewed patriarchally by the men, who through examples regard them as property. This view is often repeated in the documentary due to the large Islam community. Apart of Islam, the sharia law – the belief that women’s rights and freedoms are guided by a male guardian, is used particularly by the men seen in the court against women who wish for their own independence. Despite laws within Cameroon legislating for equality of gender, followers of Islam, use the Sharia Law in their arguments.

Within Cameroon the rights and freedoms of children can be seen as precarious, this can be seen with, Manka, a child who was taken out of Nursery to help assist her Aunty in work, due to the naivety of her age she is beaten for not working well enough. Despite schools being compulsory in Cameroon up till the age of 14, everything such as uniform, books, etc must be paid for, as a result it is often scene that within Family’s boys are sent to school first than girls, from this is what perpetuated women’s interests for opportunity and financial independence. With a Female Judge this challenges the typical traditional views held by men, with a women in this position this also may remove the traditional bias of verdicts made.

Production (Economic) Contexts –

During production, Ayisi and Longinotto were supported by the non-profit media organisation ‘Women Make Movies’, through workshops on teaching women how to make films. Distributing Sisters in law, Women Make Movies this aimed promoted their aims of supporting filmmaking by female directors who chose to bring light to themes about woman globally. As a result this has supported other works by Kim Longinotto. How the choice of location came about was from a visit to Kumba Town, which is Florence Ayisis’s home town. Originally the documentary’s focus was going to be about the police.

Representations

Women – In Sisters in Law, women are represented as vulnerable and subservient in society. This is evident in how Vera fights for women rights in court alone, overpowered by the male dominated lawyers, who laugh at her feminist concepts and patronise her idea just because she is a woman. Additionally the traditional Muslim views surrounding women are evident in the struggle for Muslim women to escape male abuse through divorce, as the result of the taboo divorce is in Muslim religion.

Differently, women are also presented as strong-willed and powerful, specially the female prosecutor/ Judge, who fight for women’s rights in an extremely male-dominated society and line of work. Both subjects don’t give up fighting for women in the face of struggle and insult, they stay strong and strain to give every women and girl they meet the justice they deserve.

Men – In Sisters in Law, men are represented to be incredibly controlling and abusive (both mentally and physically). This is specifically poignant as the documentary exposes that the men’s outdated and traditional views surrounding women are a product of what men are taught growing up in this specific cultures.

Additionally, in the documentary, men in high status positions such as lawyers are shown to be incredibly narcissistic and entitled in the way they interact with you they believe, are below them. (e.g. women). They are rarely seen taking women seriously, laughing in their faces when asked about female equality, and are overall dismissive of any sense of female rights brought up be the female Lawyer or Judge.

Children – the children portrayed in Sisters in Law are presented to appear totally and utterly helpless. They are represented as innocent and vulnerable, unable to fight for themselves. Specifically this is shown through the many instances of child abuse covered in the film, where the child is seemingly intimidated and scared in telling the prosecutor what has occurred in fear of being punished by the offender, this itself adds to the intention of the documentary, to evoke empathy in the viewer and show just how harmful tradition and outdated views can be on young children.

Muslim People – Muslim women are represented at subservient and overpowered in Sisters in Law, but through the help of the female prosecutors fighting for their rights as women, e.g their right for divorce, they are introduced with a new sense of liberty and hope in the knowledge that they can escape their abusive husbands and live lives as courageous and empowered individuals.

Muslim men are represented in the documentary as extremely traditional and adamant in the implementation of these religious views on women, detailing how women must ask for permission before leaving the house, the Muslim men in the film believe they ‘own’ their wives and continue to uphold these strict, outdates rules on women as they don’t believe this is wrong.

• The look of the film reinforces the underdevelopment of this society: people’s simple but traditional clothing, the limited physical resources and the basic buildings and spaces

• The inside of the state Prosecutor’s office is not very modern but the simple office set-up shows the importance of addressing all forms of injustice

• The documentary looks and feels raw, with a visual style capturing realism and authenticity

• The clothing and mise-en-scene correlate with the lives of those whose stories are central to the narrative

• Lack of glamour works with the documentary’s movement towards revealing the truth and giving a narrative space to the stories of the vulnerable women and children in this village community

• Dress code distinguishes between the legal representatives of the court and those attending from within the community

• Realism captured through real lives unfolding in real locations, as the narrative is constructed – real people, not actors, reinforcing truth and the authenticity of the story

Aesthetics

Kim Longinotto uses aesthetics and visual style in Sisters in Law to communicate the economic state that Cameroon is in, specifically through the use of mise-en-scene, they establish how Cameroon is an extremely under-developed country.

This especially is shows through Vera’s office, the shock factor of a very high status individual having to wok in a very ‘poor’ place really enforces the poverty of Cameroon. This is shown through how the employees use branches and alike to sweep the floor, in addition to the lack of proper cabinets and facilities in the office, instead the audience sees stacks of paper lying about, implying that the state cannot afford adequate working conditions even for extremely important jobs like prosecuting criminals.

What this achieves for the documentary as a whole, is evoking a sense of sympathy in the spectator, eliciting to Cameroons subjectively unpleasant living/working standards. therefor implementing the themes of poverty, inequality and struggle shown in the documentary.

Social Contexts

• The position of women is determined by patriarchal views of men who may regard women as their property, these views are often reinforced by family, friends and the village community

• Those who follow Sharia Law still believe that women are not allowed their independence

• Under sharia law, women’s rights and freedoms are very limited and they must defer to a male guardian, a father or husband (for example, permission to leave the house)

• The rights and freedoms of children within this community can be precarious

• Schools are set up and compulsory in Cameroon up to the age of 14, but books and uniforms must be paid for so often sons rather than daughters are prioritised, perpetuating women’s scope for opportunity and financial independence

• Young children are often expected to help out with farming chores

• Female judge in the court-room challenges the traditional views held by men, which work against women’s rights and fundamental freedoms

Production (Economic) Contexts

• Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto were supported by the non-profit media organisation ‘Women Make Moviews’ (set up in New York in 1972), running workshops teaching women how to make films. Women Make Movies distributes ‘Sisters in Law’ within the context of its wider aims to support filmmaking by female directors who embark on themes about women globally and it has supported the other documentary work by Kim Longinotto

• The idea for the documentary grew from a visit to Kumba Town, West Cameroon, which is Florence Ayisis’s home town, whilst she and Kim Longinotto were going to organically film a documentary about the police

1 –

The Primary mode used within ‘Sisters in Law’ is observational, the reason for this was to show ‘a day in the life’ of the court and legal system within Cameroon. The Directors chose this style as by being using a ‘fly on the wall’ approach it provides the viewer with the mindset that we are in that room to, reacting to what is happening with these peoples lives and how we generate a judgement like the women in the documentary who sentence their crimes. In comparison to other directors like Michael Moore or Nick Broomfield where they conduct their documentaries as hosts and narrators, Ayisi and Longinotto are creative in their methods of production.

2 – Being influenced by the Cinema verité (“cinema of truth”) movement, first used in France in the 1960s, to depict everyday situations with authentic dialogue an naturalness of action, ‘Sisters in law’ demonstrates this in numerous ways. 2 examples can be found in the scenes where, Vera Ngassa, one of the prosecutors is speaking to her child, This scene takes away from the main storylines to show that despite all the chaos of her job, she has brief moments to relax with her family. Another can be found in the scene where Manka, a 6 year-old girl, who had been beaten by her aunty, is shown to be cheered up by the policeman within the station. Taken together these examples of Cinema verité show the human aspects captured throughout the documentary. Due to the distortions of reality through modern media, this documentary makes good use of Cinema verité to ground these actual events to reality such as within these example scenes.

3 –

Would Sisters in Law construct a different narrative or give different perspectives of women’s lives, if the directors were men?

Yes, as my reasoning for this is that Director Kim Longinotto’s documentary’s are well known for the auteur approach of highlighting female victims of oppression and discrimination. With a male director, I feel as if the documentary would not capture that same motive. Through a feminist directors representation of Women, their understanding on politics and rights for women around the world are the key presidents that make her work stand out. Coming from a politically progressive Western-background (United Kingdom), she aims to provide a platform for these women who face in-equality in the politics of countries such as Cameroon. Facing suppression under a heavily patriarchal society, these aspects of her work wouldn’t be created as effectively by a male director.

If truth is important to documentary filmmaking, what truths are revealed in Sisters in Law?

Throughout Sisters in law, truths are revealed on the effects of patriarchal oppression women face in under-developed countries such as Cameroon. Within the Documentary, we are shown these examples and are made to emphasise with them. Through this exposure of change however, brought with the empowering actions of Beatrice Ntuba and Vera Ngassa, this inspires for a difference to be made within these communities, and as the ending shows, what is being done to make a difference.

Contexts

Social Contexts – The documentary follows the judicial system in Cameroon, Central Africa. Cameroon is considered a third-world country, suffering from extreme poverty and a general sense of patriarchal reign. This could be due to its traditional values and ideas, reinforced by the fact that 69.2 percent of the population, and 20.9 Muslim. The traditional values of Cameroon shines through the treatment of women exposed in the documentary, often believed to be ‘owned’ by their husbands from sometimes as young as when a girl leaves primary school.

Production (economic) Contexts – The idea of this documentary grew from visiting Kumba Town, west Cameroon. The directors originally planned on the topic of observation being the police, but instead opted around the justice system, specifically surrounding feminist issues. The directors were supported by a non-profit media organisation called ‘women make movies’, who encourage women to learn how to make films through the various film-making workshops they run.

The Documentary has a raw feel that I believe was done intentionally in order to capture the realism and authenticity of the film. The courthouse buildings doesn’t have a modern feel, instead opting for a more simplistic look. This I believe enhances the film as it shows the justice system still prevails even in this underdeveloped society.

The lack of attractiveness of the film works in the film’s favour as it presents the truth of the cruelty that women and children often face in the undeveloped area that the documentary is set in. This aesthetic detail also serves as a medium to present the judicial system in place. How even in this rough area, the judicial system protects the rights of women and children.

Another way the Aesthetics captures the realism of the film is by showing the daily lives of daily people. Directors Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto make great use of cinema verite to present this perspective. The lack of mediation from directors creates a greater sense of realism and enhances the production for the audience.

The documentary looks and feels raw and natural and uses a visual style to capture a sense of realis and verisimilitude. This is done by the use of cinematography like the shaky shots from the handheld camera used. the use of mise en scene is also used to show a realistic environment. Eg. the state prosecutors office is Messy and under developed. for example there are a big stack of papers by the wall and her office does not have air conditioning which would explain the fan on the side of the table.