Capsule Review 'Sisterhood' The Chicago International Film Festival

Cyberbullying has reached an epidemic across the globe. In the wake of cyberbullying is the #MeToo rise against predators. Sisterhood doesn't establish an exact clear distinction between right and wrong with exposing predators online. It gets more into the complexities of being found out online and the fallout through such a status. The friendship of a sisterhood of three fifteen-year-old girls is brought to the test when one of the girls, Amina (Leah Aubert), has her friends record the perverse actions of Zak (Oscar Al Hafiane) as things don't go exactly as planned. What proceeds is a series of harassments and threats that have its finger on the pulse of the current zeitgeist. 

Amina, Djeneba (Médina Diarra), and Zineb (Salma Takaline) have been close friends throughout their childhood. When the video under the social media logo "HLM Pussy" goes viral, not everyone takes the girl's side. Some call them terrible derogatory terms; others threaten their life. Yet some come in support of them. However, it seems too little. The friendship of the sisterhood is threatened by those who want to expose them. Most films dealing with social media would take the girl's video against Zak as a victory.

Director Nora el Hourch takes a more believable path where exposing a predator through social media shaming isn't the grand victory one would expect. Instead, it gets into the complexities of online culture. Amina's privileged status gets put under scrutiny, Djeneba becomes a victim of racism, and Zineb is almost forced to move schools. Meanwhile, Zak wants the video of his assault down and will go to many means to have it his way. What works in his favor is the fact that the girls are gracious enough to blur his face out so no one can detect him. But that isn't enough to stop other classmates from suspecting that it's him in the video. 

The movie scrutinizes social media movements as being MeToo'd isn't the direct victory of the narrative it would usually be. To expose someone doesn't mean that you directly win against your assailant. By blocking Zak's face out of fear, Djeneba doesn't escape Zak's racist threats. Things get heated to the point where Djeneba is tempted to delete the video but does she cave in? Nora el Hourch approaches a much more nuanced view of the current social landscape where perspectives get skewed and opinions from both sides burst at the seams unleashing online culture wars. 

The Internet has become a weapon everyone can use and supposedly not one perspective is the right one to take. The side of the girls in this film is the correct one to lean on, and that usually is the case with such instances, but it doesn't prevent predators from using social media to their advantage as well. Sisterhood is a complex, examination of modern-day culture that doesn't say anything new. Rather it takes its structure from the fallout of an online posting. Instead of this being something that happens in the middle or end of the picture it is instead inserted in the beginning. 

Sisterhood is screening on October 17 and 18 for its U.S. Premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival