Lingui, the Sacred Bonds

Amina is a single mother. She and her daughter Maria have been disowned by her family because Maria is an illegitimate child. Amina earns a meagre living for her daughter and herself by selling homemade fireplaces. When she learns that 15-year-old Maria is pregnant, Amina faces a major challenge. Abortions are forbidden by religion and law and are severely punished. Maria is also expelled from school so as not to damage its good reputation. Amina finally decides against her faith and for her daughter’s future. She pulls out all the stops to enable her daughter to have an abortion. Maria should lead a normal life without being despised by everyone. When the police raid the clinic where Maria is to be treated, Amina and Maria seem to have lost their struggle. Even the imam and their otherwise very generous neighbour Brahim turn against them. But now the „lingui“, the traditional sacred bonds between women, take effect, bringing about help and solidarity for each other.