From director Abderrahmane Sissako comes Timbuktu, a pointed but lyrical film depicting the frightening effects that follow the imposition of strict Islamic law in the titular North African city. Sissako presents the arrival of self-proclaimed jihadists from Libya with little sympathy, showing them chasing a gazelle across the sand with their truck (“don’t kill it; tire it”), and using folk-art sculptures for target practice.
The lightly plotted film unfolds in a series of vignettes, showing the men imposing harsh new laws, usually at gunpoint: demanding that women wear gloves, arresting musicians and confiscating soccer balls. Timbuktu also shows resistance both futile and wry (a soccer game continues without the ball). And it casts light on the jihadists’ own hypocrisy (conveniently dismissed with handy “religious” explanation) and indisputable weaknesses.
Sissako’s film is beautifully shot (in nearby Mauritania), and is among this year’s nominations for Best Foreign Language picture. With similar, real-life groups such as ISIS and Boko Haram in the news, Timbuktu should resonate deeply with viewers.
The film ends as it began, with a beautiful creature — this time, a child — running in fear across the dunes. It is not necessary to kill, but simply to tire one’s prey, and in Timbuktu, these powerful, intractable newcomers will likely grind out beauty, joy and self-expression.
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2015.
Three things this review missed:
1) This film does depict a “real-life” group. In 2012, using weapons diverted from the Gaddafi collapse, a rebellion
of the secular and moderate Muslim Tuaregs took over nearly
2/3 of Mali and declared the independent country of Azawad.
The move was usurped by their former allies, Ansar Al-Dine,
an extreme Islamist group which branched off Al Qaida in the
Maghreb (which was also responsible for the massacre in the
Algerian ‘In Amenas’ oil field a year later). It took the French
army to dislodge Ansar and drive them back into the desert,
but in the interim, Ansar imposed strict Sharia law on the
cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, and that’s what this film
depicts accurately.
2) Those are Tuareg children in the photo. The males wear
the veils (tagelmust) rather than the women, and the society is matrilineal, but they also have strict social castes and slaves (there are a half million slaves in Mauritania alone).
2) One of the film’s stars is the amazing Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, who had a critically acclaimed album on
World Circuit/Nonesuch a couple years ago. Malian talent
continues to shine!
Now, go see this film. I know I will!