Linda & Ali, Two Worlds within four Walls

Linda and Ali met in the 1980s while at university in Arizona. Linda was a Catholic, Ali a Shiite Muslim. Today they live in Qatar and have six daughters and one son. Twenty years on, even though Linda converted to Islam because of her husband, it seems the distance between their respective worlds is even greater. While Ali goes to work, meets his colleagues and goes out with them every night, Linda lives only for the household and the kids. Even if she did have a little free time, religious rules do not afford her much freedom to use it. Without manipulating reality, filmmaker Lut Vandekeybus compellingly portrays the strict division of this society into the world of men and the world of women. Drawn to a football match by the noisy crowd, his camera surveys the scene without finding a single woman. A fence divides one of the city squares – boys play volleyball on one side, girls stand on the other, permitted only to watch. Although one might come across a similar situation in non–Muslim countries, here the law forbids the presence of women on the wrong side of the fence. Although the story of Linda and Ali portrays an effort to surmount cultural differences, it also confirms that if only one person in a relationship makes a sacrifice, problems will persist.