4. Mali/Mauritania — Timbuktu
2014, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Timbuktu was a flourishing city of the Mali Empire in the 14th century that was at the center of African trading routes, was a place of learning, and facilitated the exchange of ideas, goods, and culture. Today, the city is barely a town, suffers from desertification, and was briefly occupied in 2012 by militant Islamists known as Ansar Dine. This 2014 film concerns that occupation and presents a tableaux of Timbuktu residents dealing with their new, foreign Jihadist rulers, hell bent on imposing the strictest regime of Sharia law. They have banned music, cigarettes, soccer, dating, socializing, . . . basically, fun. They are also hypocrites and incompetents. We see scenes of them sneaking cigarettes, debating about Lionel Messi, and coveting a married woman. The local imam scolds them for bringing guns and wearing shoes to his mosque and tells them to let the residents pray in peace alone.
Might equals right, so they impose their dumb rules. We see that the punishment doled out exceeds the crime. A life for an eye. 40 lashes for playing music and singing (and what pleasing music in this film — the main theme is a highlight), and a brutal public stoning of a couple. What’s good versus bad is presented in stark black and white terms. I’m fine with that presentation here. After all, some things are clear cut. Music, soccer, and having freedom to live a life without totalitarian oppression are good. Brutal corporal punishment under color of law, forced religious devotion, and hypocritical authorities are bad. The problem with the lack of gray area is that it renders the story a little too bland, clean, and anti-septic.
The central plot concerns a nomadic herdsman and his family who live outside the city. He is a devout Muslim, who comes into conflict with the Islamists after a tragic violent encounter. That sequence is hauntingly shot with a long take of the Niger River. This is the best sequence in the movie next to an absurdist scene of young boys playing a game of soccer without a ball. The side characters are more interesting: a townie eccentric, who drags her colorful, disheveled robes behind her, and openly flouts the female face covering law. She’s a great foil to the Jihadists, and she gets away with it too because you can’t tell a crazy lady nothing. A few Jihadists are so young and green that they can’t even articulate why they are there and what they believe in; one comically fails in making a believable propaganda video. Yet they will engage in awful brutality, a reflection on the banality of evil. The depiction of the reluctant fundamentalists is interesting. These were probably like the recruits from Europe who joined ISIS, only to flee shortly after realizing they were in over their heads.
The writer-director is Abderrahmane Sissako, one of north Africa’s acclaimed modern directors. I was excited to see one of his films. He is Malian, but was born and based in Mauritania. Although Timbuktu is set in that Malian city, the film was shot in Mauritania too. The natural photography is masterfully rendered and beautifully shot. The opening shot of an antelope running is like something out of a Terrence Malick film, until it gets shot. What the town lacks in greenery and vibrancy, the sandscapes and desert surroundings make up in natural beauty and atmosphere. The film’s technical mastery, precision, but coldness remind me of the work of Steven Soderbergh, a critically acclaimed director whom I am lukewarm on.
What does it say about Mali? I didn’t know Timbuktu and this region of North Africa was such a diverse place, but it all makes sense because this was a major trading post. The people are West Africans, Berbers, Moors, and Arabs. There is a cacophony of languages spoken in the film: the native Bambara and Tamasheq; the colonial Arabic, French, and English. The Jihadists are frustrated about the constant need for translation in order to communicate with the townspeople. It is played as a joke when one Jihadist’s Arabic is so poor that he’s instructed to speak in English. Finally, the film teaches us that it is the people of places like Timbuktu and Mali, rather than the West, who have and will continue to bear the burden and costs of religious fundamentalism.
I saw Timbuktu on Kanopy. You can rent it on streaming platforms.
This is #4 in my World Tour of Cinema project. Read my introductory post here.
