Bastards review: Incisive documentary on Moroccan women's fight for children's paternity

3 / 5 stars

TWO women battle against a patriarchal family system to get the father of their children to recognise their paternity – against all odds

 Mother Rabha and daughter Salma who get the father to court and win the case [PH]

(Cert 12A; 83 mins)

Rabha El Haimer emerges as a truly heroic figure in Deborah Perkin’s shocking documentary Bastards. El Haimer is a Moroccan single mother whose daughter is a legal and social outcast because of a sham arranged marriage now denied by her husband.

Her fight to win legitimacy for her daughter exposes a deeply patriarchal society where men act as if above the law and women are second-class citizens seeking justice from a deeply flawed legal system.

A small-scale production but one that burns brightly.