Sisters In Law Analysed

Cinematography

• A series of establishing shots of the village is used to provide context rather than relying entirely on narration or explanatory text. These shots also introduce us to an environment we are unfamiliar with and also shows the poverty of the village.
• Longinotto exclusively uses handheld camera which not only allows more portability so that she can move quickly and point the camera at whatever is interesting. Not only does this allow her to maintain her unobtrusiveness, it also allows the audience to feel like they are in the room with them.
• On multiple occasions the camera is used to give a broader understanding as she doesn’t focus on what is directly relevant
• Throughout the films there are lots of close-ups of the women and children involved in the cases/trials so that we are forced to look at them and see their upset thus furthering Longinotto’s female focus.
• When the camera moved towards the children, bewildered expressions can be seen on their faces. Their confusion is used to provoke a reaction and to fit the idea that Longinotto wants her subjects to be aware of the camera as we see from the genuine reactions of the children that they are.
• The people in the film are aware there is a camera but still appear to put on a bit of a performance. For example the lawyer takes on an authoritative and powerful front that she maintains throughout as if it is a character trait, in the divorce court later in the film several judges show exaggerated happiness for the woman who has just been granted a divorce despite making cruel comments earlier when they were less consciously aware of the cameras presence and during a sequence in which the auntie is told to apologise to the little girl she had beaten she plays up to the camera by crying and begging for forgiveness.
• Longinotto does not shy away from the emotional intensity of the events, she forces the audience to acknowledge the trauma by not cutting away and maintain long-held shots so we see the subjects anguish. This is an effect that wouldn’t have been possible if they were using film instead of digital technology as the length of time they could shoot for would be restricted.

Sound Design

• Whilst the sound design in this documentary is not used excessively, a cultural non-diegetic score is used to introduce us to the Cameroonian environment. The score is of a happy tone rather than a tragic one so that the daily lives of Cameroon’s people are not dramatized to seem like an unfortunate third world country, instead the music captures their spirits to increase audience familiarity with their culture.
• After the initial use of a non-diegetic score at the beginning, it fades out and we are left with diegetic sounds of the environment they are in and no score is used until the end credits. The lack of non-diegetic score allows the documentary to feel as naturalistic as possible.

Editing

• Writing can be seen on the bottom of the screen to provide information and context.
• Whilst the screen time is mainly given to the women, enough screen time is given to the positive male presences in the documentary to provide a balance.
• Although there are many long takes to immerse us in the stories of these women, there are edit points during their conversations which is clear due to the cut down version of conversations that would be longer in real life. It makes you wonder whether something else had happened between the parts we are shown.
• Subtitles are used when the local people are talking so that we can understand their language which is often a mixture of English and other languages.
• Editing is clearly only used for necessity, to take us from one place to another for the most part she lets the conversations take place and maintains her observational stance. Longinotto is deliberately selecting footage that will provoke a reaction in the audience, the events probably wouldn’t have an effect on the on looking local people in Cameroon yet the editing and selection of footage allows us to see the bravery of these women speaking out.

Filmmakers “Theories” – Kim Longinotto

Kim Longinotto is a British documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. Some of her most well known work include The Day I Will Never Forget (Kim Longinotto, 2002), which follows stories of Kenyan women struggling under the pressures of female genital mutilation, and Divorce Iranian Style (Kim Longinotto, 1998) which shows 3 couples carrying out the difficult process of divorce in the Islamic republic.

Longinotto is known for making films that highlight female victims of oppression and discrimination. Her documentaries can be classified as cinema veritè. She calls her body of work an “army of women” who she often refers to as ‘rebels’. Longinotto holds the belief that women are more interesting and passionate to film and often highlights that the only reason she gets asked why she focuses on women in her documentaries is because it is still an unfortunate unusual occurrence to have films centre around women.

She often says that “We make the films that are like the people we are” and as an observatory person her documentaries often reflect the way she prefers to work. In one interview she emphasises that she likes to make the people in the film feel as though it is more their film than hers. Whilst her documentaries often tells stories of women standing up against tradition, mostly lawful traditions, she argues that her aim isn’t to change laws but to change mindsets; she hopes her films will change the mentality of the viewer in the context of their own lives by learning and observing others lives in a different context. She says she prefers if her films don’t have conclusions and instead hopes they raise questions.

‘I don’t think of films as documents or records of things. I try to make them as like the experience of watching a fiction film as possible, though, of course, nothing is ever set up” – Longinotto

The main noticeable stylistic feature of her documentaries is her unobtrusiveness that enables the women on camera to claim their own voice and presence to tell their story the way they wish to. To maintain this style, Longinotto excludes using narration, staging or lighting and acts as a silent witness. This style is meant to encourage the impression that “no one is watching” Longinotto effaces their shooting style by communicating without words to provoke a gentle form of filmmaking.

Interestingly, Longinotto is very keen on subject awareness and specified that she prefers if the people on camera acknowledge her as they will therefore be talking to the audience as well as the people around them in their environment allowing them to get the points across that they wish to portray to the wider audience. She also has frequently expressed her dislike for the expression “fly on the wall” as it makes the filmmaker seem like a cold observer. Instead she prefers to see how the camera effects the actions of the subjects: for example, in Sisters In Law (Kim Longinotto, 2005) she comments on the fact that the men in charge of one of the women’s divorce forgot the camera was there momentarily and began to ridicule her however, when they took note of the camera once again after the divorce had been granted they took on a disposition of happiness for her and her case.

Loninotto also takes on the role of cinematographer and camera operator in her work as she believes it is more pragmatic and allows her to make films exactly how she envisions them rather than attempting to tell someone else what to do. She tends to put together clips as she’s shooting them. Her camerawork avoids zooms or pans in order to create the illusion that the camera is the ‘eyes’ of the audience.

A noticeable feature of her documentary Sisters In Law is the lack of context context provided to the audience. The absence of details about the court procedure in Cameroon allows to focus of the cases and the power of the women in authoritative positions within the environment. Longinotto avoids any interview scenarios and this is clear in sister In Law; although there is one sequence in the film in which an off-camera question has been asked although this is not heard and the audience only sees the woman answering whilst looking at the off-camera presence.

Despite her individualistic style, Longinotto is rarely referred to as an auteur. Perhaps this is due to her lack of filmmaking persona on-screen that male documentarians like Nick Broomfield and Michael Moore, filmmakers whom Longinotto herself has expressed admiration for, do.

 

Resource

Sisters In Law (Kim Longinotto, 2005)

Sisters In Law (Kim Longinotto, 2005) follows real events taking in place in Cameroon following four cases in which women seek justice against the violence they have suffered. The film aims to display the lives of women and children living in Cameroon facing the lack of equality they face on a day to day basis.

The film is directed by Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi, 2 british filmmakers, who provide a observatory perspective to create a “fly on the wall” style (although Longinotto hates that expression). Whilst it could be argued that they maintain an unbiased perspective, the documentary is clearly celebratory of the female lawyers, judges and social workers as they fight for the rights of women after 17 years of no convictions surrounding spousal abuse.

The most influential story told within the documentary for me followed 6-year-old Manka who ran away from her abusive auntie after she beat her leaving scars all over her body. Other stories told included: Amina seeking a divorce from her abusive husband despite being told to stay quiet and Sonita who has accused her neighbour of rape.