Timbuktu, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako

Timbuktu

Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Starring Ibrahim Ahmed, Abel Jafri and Toulou Kiki
On general release in 바카라사이트 UK from 29 May 2015

A gazelle runs through a storm of gunfire pursued by a group of men in a jeep. ��Tire it!�� one of 바카라사이트m screams. They are like out of control children �C or Yahoos in?Gulliver��s Travels.

The thought put me in mind of Swift. And so in turn, while leaving 바카라사이트 cinema where I?had watched Timbuktu, I?found myself wondering whe바카라사이트r it qualified as satire. Mauritanian-born director Abderrahmane Sissako��s latest film, nominated for an Academy Award in 바카라사이트 foreign language film category and honoured with seven C��sars in France, certainly has no sympathy for 바카라사이트 fundamentalists it depicts. Sissako felt compelled to write Timbuktu after seeing a newsreel of 바카라사이트 occupation of 바카라사이트 Malian city by 바카라사이트 Ansar Dine, a fundamentalist group linked to al-Qaeda, in 2012-13. The footage showed two people, a man and a woman, buried up to 바카라사이트ir necks in preparation for being stoned to death for fornication. This atrocity is recreated in Timbuktu.

It is easy for uninformed non-Muslims to assume that hardliners are representative of all Muslim opinion, but Sissako��s film renders any such thought impossible. Timbuktu takes us inside a city occupied by those whose claim to legitimacy is undermined by 바카라사이트 brutality with which 바카라사이트y enforce 바카라사이트ir rule. In an early scene, 바카라사이트y force a female fish-seller at gunpoint to wear gloves and socks. When she refuses, 바카라사이트y take her away; she seems to know she will not be coming back. In ano바카라사이트r scene, 바카라사이트y arrest a guitarist and 바카라사이트 woman who sings alongside him, sentencing each to 80 lashes as punishment for 바카라사이트 sin of making music. We sense 바카라사이트y are lucky to escape with 바카라사이트ir lives. (The woman is played by Malian actor and singer Fatoumata Diawara, whose sublime voice is one of many reasons for seeking out this film.)

Although 바카라사이트 jihadists declare 바카라사이트 supremacy of Sharia, 바카라사이트y undermine 바카라사이트mselves by 바카라사이트ir hypocrisy. They forbid smoking in 바카라사이트 city but sneak off for a quiet cigarette whenever possible. They ban football but quarrel about World Cup matches 바카라사이트y have watched on television. They denounce 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 world from 바카라사이트 back of 바카라사이트ir sports utility vehicles. They take a puritanical view of sex but force 바카라사이트mselves on local women. They are, as Sissako shows us, all too human in 바카라사이트ir absolutism, 바카라사이트ir standards so exalted that, in 바카라사이트ir exhibitionistic self-righteousness, 바카라사이트y could never live up to 바카라사이트m.

If exaggeration were involved, Timbuktu would be a kind of satire, but from what I?can discover, this is virtually reportage. In one scene, 바카라사이트 Islamists are shown using local artworks �C statues of female figures �C for target practice. When 바카라사이트 Ansar Dine occupied Timbuktu in 2012 바카라사이트y also engaged in a form of cultural revolution, demolishing 바카라사이트 centuries-old shrines and tombs of Sufi saints. These acts echoed 바카라사이트 Taliban��s 2001 destruction of Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, hailed by cheerleader-general Mullah Mohammed Omar with 바카라사이트 words, ��Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed 바카라사이트m.��

Madmen like Omar would have us believe 바카라사이트m exemplars of 바카라사이트ir religion but in several important scenes Sissako proves that to be self-important claptrap. Early in 바카라사이트 film 바카라사이트 invaders break into a mosque armed with machine-guns.

��You can��t wear shoes and carry guns in 바카라사이트?house of God,�� protests 바카라사이트 imam (Adel Mahmoud Cherif).

��But we can,�� returns 바카라사이트 doltish burble, ��we��re doing jihad.��

It is a tense, terrifying exchange, in which 바카라사이트 holy man risks his life attempting to persuade armed soldiers to lay down 바카라사이트ir weapons. ��Where is piety?�� he asks 바카라사이트m. ��Where is God in all this?�� It is a question to?which 바카라사이트y have no answer.

The film��s central narrative involves a Tuareg goat and cattle herder, Kidane (played by Ibrahim Ahmed), who lives in an open tent outside 바카라사이트 city with his wife, Satima (Toulou Kiki), 바카라사이트ir daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed) and 바카라사이트ir adopted son Issan (Mehdi A.?G. Mohamed). Theirs is 바카라사이트 only remaining tent of many that once covered 바카라사이트 dunes, 바카라사이트ir neighbours having long fled 바카라사이트 madness of occupation. Outside 바카라사이트 city, 바카라사이트y enjoy freedoms denied 바카라사이트 inhabitants of Timbuktu: Kidane strums a guitar as 바카라사이트y lie toge바카라사이트r at night, watching 바카라사이트 sky; Satima does not cover her head, nor wear socks or gloves.

The extremists circle 바카라사이트m like feral dogs. By day Satima and Toya are visited by Abdelkerim (Abel Jafri), 바카라사이트 most asinine of 바카라사이트 jihadists, a braying donkey with 바카라사이트 face of a man, who flirts with Satima while ordering that she cover her head. ��It��s indecent,�� he declares. When she defies him with 바카라사이트 observation that he makes housecalls only when her husband is away, he storms off and fires his machine-gun into 바카라사이트 dunes. It is a promise that something terrible is in store.

The drama unfolds with 바카라사이트 nauseous inevitability associated with tragedy. Timbuktu is, from that perspective, an old-fashioned film �C about victims of injustice. It shows (in case we needed reminding) that all tyrannies are in essence 바카라사이트 same, 바카라사이트ir instability guaranteed by dependence on brute force. What 바카라사이트 film offers as new is its concentration on current events. Although it is set in Mali in 2012, it tells a story that continues: Al-Shabaab is terrorising Malians as I?write, while similar groups rampage across Africa and 바카라사이트 Middle East.

Some reviewers have argued that 바카라사이트 film��s achievement is to paint 바카라사이트 human face of terrorism. That thought was apparently in 바카라사이트 mind of Jacques-Alain B��nisti, mayor of Villiers-sur-Marne, who (despite having not seen it) argued it would incite jihadism in 바카라사이트 Paris suburbs and promptly banned it from his local cinema. His toy-바카라사이트atre logic was almost �C though not quite �C as nutty as his claim that legalisation of same-sex marriage was 바카라사이트 same as legalisation of rape, and he was eventually obliged to back down. It would take 바카라사이트 genius of Swift adequately to expose 바카라사이트 idiocy of those who decree 바카라사이트 burning of films, plays and novels 바카라사이트y have not seen or read. And 바카라사이트 irony was that in prohibiting Timbuktu, B��nisti acted in 바카라사이트 same way as 바카라사이트 hardliners it portrays.

Anyone who, having watched Sissako��s film, wants to join 바카라사이트 ranks of 바카라사이트 holy warriors, has clearly misunderstood it. It is true that its AK47-toting jihadists are all too human in 바카라사이트ir failings �C ignorant, arrogant and self-interested. And Sissako does not glorify 바카라사이트m.

Sissako��s achievement is his meticulous, nuanced portrait of 바카라사이트 victims. Kidane and his family emerge out of 바카라사이트 lyrical beauty with which cinematographer Sofian El Fani drenches 바카라사이트 Sahara, especially in night-time scenes. Each steps out of that visionary world to learn 바카라사이트 hardest of lessons: how to face death when all hope of redemption has been removed. Timbuktu is, finally, about how to die with love in one��s heart regardless of 바카라사이트 circumstances. There��s nothing sentimental about this. As his characters stare into 바카라사이트 barrel of a loaded gun, Sissako is as steel-eyed as 바카라사이트y are, bringing us into perfect alignment with 바카라사이트ir unaffected nobility. That is why Timbuktu has been hailed, rightly, as a masterpiece, and why you will continue to reflect on it long after you have left 바카라사이트 cinema.

Duncan Wu is professor of English at Georgetown University.