Many films that deal with African culture mention the barbaric practices to which women and girls are subjected. Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, a story of a Muslim woman Amina, is one of them. Her pregnant daughter is expelled from school. She is devastated because she has the experience of having been deserted by society and her family after getting pregnant in the past. Her daughter wants an abortion since she does not want the same life as her mother. In a society where women are given neither protection nor freedom, it is the men who control all aspects of female sexuality. A reversal of the male-centered narrative of director’s previous work, A Screaming Man (2010), which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2010, Lingui, The Sacred Bonds examines the relationship of mother and the daughter who, despite feeling free from oppression when, paradoxically, suddenly realize they have no rights, and there is no one to help them. (LEE Yong Cheol)