Mia Couto's Confession of the Lioness plays upon themes of justice and divine providence. In the remote African village of Kulumani, the men have established a regime of oppression which rests upon abusing their women, only they have participated in the system for so long that they are unaware that this is what's happening. Unwilling to put up with the abuse any longer, some of the elder women use witchcraft to summon a pack of spirit lionesses to punish the village, but they keep it all a secret. After many people are killed by the lions, the village elders hire a hunter to come and kill them. When Archangel arrives, he quickly gathers that everything is not as it appears after he finds himself mysteriously unable to kill the lionesses. Meanwhile Mariamar, a young woman whose sister was killed by a lioness, finds herself powerless, shut away in her home by her father who fears Archangel will somehow corrupt her with his progressive ideas. She spends her time realizing the extent of her father's crimes and hoping Archangel will somehow notice her and rescue her. He's a sharp one and soon does just this. He figures out the old women's secret and decides to help by confronting the men. Resisting at first, the elders soon realize their error and promise to make it right.
Only after all of the characters start suspecting that the lionesses are not normal animals, do they consider divine retribution. Up until that point, the men didn't believe they had anything to fear. Suddenly everyone is afraid of immediately, unpredictable death, but the difference is the women have always felt this way at the hands of their abusive fathers and husbands. Face to face with the ethereal monsters hunting in their streets, the villagers are forced to consider whether they deserve this or not. They now find themselves on shaky ground, facing a supernatural judge.
Archangel's character is an obvious reflection of Jesus Christ. After being summoned to this village he soon learns that he is uniquely positioned to make some positive change in these people's lives. In fact, he has been summoned her for exactly that purpose, but the choice is still his. He could've left the moment he realized he couldn't kill the lions, but he doesn't. He deliberately decides to save these women by risking his life. When he criticizes the elders, he is likely to be executed and has no way to protect himself. He does so anyway because he believes in helping these women throw off their oppressors. Similarly, Christ, being a man, dedicated his life to virtue, especially love, in order to teach people how to live better. He died in order to show people who were wise enough to understand his teachings that they too must sacrifice themselves in order to find peace. He taught them to behave like gods because he knew that they were, even though they couldn't see the truth themselves and even hated him for saying so.
