TENRIKYO, UNE TRADITION EN TOGE NOIRE (TENRIKYO, TRADITION THROUGH BLACK ROBE)

In Tenrikyo, a quarter of the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, judges in black robes preside over cases of divorce, inheritance disputes, and suspected witchcraft. This is no ordinary court though – it is governed by the ancient rituals of common law, a system of justice that is firmly embedded in Congolese society, with traditions passed down through generations. Although the official Congolese constitution does not recognise common law, the authorities have no choice but to respect its judgments. Tenrikyo, Tradition through Black Robe documents a number of emotionally sensitive cases inside the sacred walls of the common law court, as the untrained volunteer judges hand down sentences based on spiritual forms of retribution. The decisions are absolute, even if not everyone agrees with this pre-modern form of jurisprudence. Tribunals as metaphysical places, sentences for the mollification of Gods: Mbou Mikima's film is a quiet, ethnographical phenomenology of the origins of justice.