Timbuktu, a 2014 nominee for best foreign film comes from director Abderrahamane Sissako, born in Mauritania but known as a Malian film director (a prior film of his is Bamako). It’s a powerful, beautiful, and often times difficult film, set in and around Timbuktu during the time it was under jihadist control – a few years ago. The film does not focus on the well known story of the Timbuktu manuscripts but rather on the day to day lives of folks and the impact of jihadist control – on both Timbuktu’s residents and the jihadists.
There are several story lines: a Tuareg family living in a tent on the dunes, a woman who sells fish, some musicians, the local commander, and many more. What we see is the absurdity of the dimensions of life the jihadists wish to control, the extremes of Sharia law as applied, and most importantly, many acts of passive and subtle resistance and the human strength they convey. Dress for men and women is controlled, smoking, music and sports are forbidden, etc. (One of the wonderful scenes is some young boys playing soccer without a ball!) Women and their particular struggles are central to the movie.
What the movie is really about is how today’s neighbors can become tomorrow’s oppressors; how long standing differences can become caught in the oppression; how the oppressors lose their humanity in their obsession with power; and how strong are the impulses for resistance and maintenance of humanity.
The movie is in multiple languages: French, Tuareg, English and another local language or two. There are English subtitles, except for sections where the particular translation is unimportant. The capturing of the beauty – sometimes stark, sometimes gorgeous – and the reality of sophisticated urban life (as urban as Timbuktu is) is extraordinary.
It’s not always a comfortable movie to watch, but it’s a film not to be missed.