Timbuktu

"Timbuktu" (2014 release from Mauritania; 99 min.) brings the story (fictional, by influenced by real events) of how the Mali town copes with the 'liberation' by jihadis. As the movie opens, we see the jihadis having a shooting practice by destroying the local wood statutes. The jihadis issue all kinds of rules ("smoking is forbidden! music is forbidden!"), much to the irritation of the local Mali population. We get to know one local family in particular, a husband and wife with their 12 yr. old daughter. They live a bit outside of the city center where the desert takes over, going about their daily business as best as possible. Then one day, one of the husband's cow accidentally destroys the fishing nets of the fisherman, who promptly kills the cow. The husband decides that he cannot tolerate this. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, it is a small miracle that a movie like "Timbuktu" could even have been made. Writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako shot the movie in Mauritania, which subs for Mali, but let's not kid ourselves. Mauritania is an "Islamic Republic", so it was no easy feat to shoot there either. Second, Sissako demonstrates again and again how much the local population resends the jihadis for uprooting their lives. There are several scenes in which a local man pleads with the jihadis ("where is forgiveness? where is leniency?"), to no avail of course. Playing soccer will cost you 20 leashes. Playing music comes at 40 lashes. Being in the room with someone from the opposite sex is another 40 lashes, and on and on. The fact that the neither side can understand the other (they speak Tamasheq in Timbuktu, the jihadis mostly speak Arabian, some also speak French or English) only makes the entire situation even more absurd. Second, while there are some shocking scenes in the movie, overall this is not a violent or graphic film. Almost on the contrary, in that the movie's editing and photography is done in such a way that it induces a false sense of peace and security. The photography in particular is pure eye-candy. Third, I have no idea where Sissako found these performers, but there are some wonderful performances, in particular from the wife and the 12 yr. old daughter. Bottom line: there is a good reason why this film is nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, as it is a deeply moving film that will stay with you long after you have seen it.

The movie finally opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I went to see it right away. The matinée screening where I saw this at today was attended okay but not great, although I'm hoping that the bitter cold weather is a factor for that. If you like a top-notch foreign film that provides a glimpse of what real life under jihad is like, you cannot go wrong with this. "Timbuktu" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

"Let me say this loud and clear. There is a world of difference between terrorist acts and the Islamic Shari'a. Islam is not only a religion, but a way of life. And at its heart lie the sacred principles of tolerance and dialogue." King Hussein I

A popular cliché is to refer to "Timbuktu" as the farthest, out-of-it-all place on earth, like "You can go to Timbuktu for all I care." However, in writer/ director Abderrahmane Sissako's remarkable film, Timbuktu, the world rests in miniature in the sand dunes of gorgeous Mali, where a Bedouin family can languish in the shade of their tent while a small boy herds their cattle and nearby fishmongers ply their trade by a welcoming pond. It is a world seemingly removed from stress, a paradise.

In the cell-phone age, no one is too far away and paradise easily shattered, as the natives use their phones to coordinate their herds and their lives. So do the Muslim jihadists, who use their phones to control the natives, bending them to their will on such mundane matters as wearing gloves and playing music. In a way, the low-key policing by the jihadists employing Shari'a seems to contrast with the notorious ISIS, whose control extends to burning and beheading.

All is relatively tame until one Bedouin's pregnant cow is killed by a fishmonger, and the herder murders in revenge. The Long-distance wide-angle shot of the two men in a death struggle is remarkably beautiful and ominous, like David Lean's memorable Lawrence of Arabia scenes.

The local jihadist authority follows God's law in this case while it takes a woman into custody for not wearing gloves and carries out murderous punishment on musicians. This tranquil paradise slowly becomes a hotbed of repression while the director still shoots lovely scenes that belie the suppression already reaching into the lives that seemed so far removed.

Underneath the obvious meting out of "justice" is the subjugation of women, almost as if radical Muslim orthodoxy had this prejudice as its cornerstone. This film drives that oppression home as few others have done because it makes it a quiet but persistent issue in daily activity. The very peacefulness of the living in Mali and the sweet sparseness of the mise en scene could almost make us think the radicalism is acceptable. But when you see men buried in sand and rocks thrown at their heads, you know life in the sand in not romantic.

Timbuktu is rated PG-13, a triumph in good taste as murder and subjugation are the dominant activities. A film that allows young persons to see the world's injustices through a beautiful lens is a film worth sharing in the hope of removing radical Islamists from paradise. Let them have their virgins and soon.

For someone raised in Mauritania as I was, it was quite something to watch the first Mauritanian movie nominated for a Foreign Film Oscar. I saw it in, of all places, in a movie theatre in Rio de Janeiro, the first week of its release in Brazil.

The language of cinema is truly universal as you see people who belong to an entirely different culture react in a similar way to someone from that culture. Of course there are some references not easy to get, such as the one to music lauding the Prophet by Mauritanian female artist Dimi mint Abba which is heard in a key scene showing how absurd these Islamists' prohibitions are.

Unsure, also, whether people can tell when different actors use different languages (Arabic, Tuareg, Bambara etc.).

The soccer game scene is one of the best I saw this year on the big screen, and the one with the killing of astounding beauty.

Definitely a great director at work here, despite obvious limited resources.

I don't believe there is one frame in this film that is not gorgeous, that couldn't be displayed as a photograph at a gallery. The muted colors of the desert, the medieval architecture of the town, the tragically expressive faces always glowing in a magical light--all of it is almost painfully beautiful. The story is beyond tragic. By seemingly digressing into numerous anecdotes illustrating the quirks of the population, the director allows us to appreciate deeply the texture and social fabric of the community that is being poisoned by madness. We see in particular its effect on an extremely appealing but by no means sanctified family. This is one of the film's extraordinary strengths as well. No character is oversimplified; even the appalling jihadists are granted their humanity. I've seen "Boyhood" and "Birdman", the apparent favorites for the Oscar. "Timbuktu" utterly blows both those fine movies out of the water.

In the middle of the beauty of Saharian Africa, a shepherd and his lovely wife have to face the punishment of jihad's authorities in Timbuctu, a town in Mali. Religious authorities control even the most intimate gestures in the middle of crude poverty. A moral dictator, as usual conducts himself in double standard. Jihadism, persecutes not only sensual expressions such as the beauty of songs and music played by the people in the village, but also any expression of individuality. Amine Bouhafa's, music compositions are profoundly moving as also the sound of the original language, a soothing tender sound. The random of being born in such a place simply changes the life and options of the characters, leaving very little to free will.