Bamako (2007)

Directed By: Abderrahmane Sissako
Cast: Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Habib Dembene, Djeneba Kone, Hamadoun Kassogue, William Bourdon, Mamadou Kanoute, Gabriel Magma Konate. Aminata Traore, Danny Glover, Elia Suleiman, Dramane Sissako, Jean-Henri Roger, Zeka Laplaine
Released 23-02-2007

It’s rare these days to experience some of the joys of world cinema. Asian cinema feels too much like Hollywood, albeit, fresher, more vibrant and challenging. European cinema is becoming more and more mainstream with the avant-garde films and cinephiles of France seemingly dying out. The last great “new wave” in cinema as they are always defined was in the 90’s in Iran. Films from the Makhmalbaf’s, and Abbas Kiarostami such as The Apple, Gabbeh and Ten where beautifully refreshing and challenging whilst being extremely cinematic whilst still offering a fresh perspective on film. Recently in an issue of Sight and Sound, to coincide with the release of Bamako, a feature was written on African cinema and its importance on the world and cinema specifically. Africa is a huge continent and therefore is responsible for producing a large number of films, most of which never make to these shores or any others outside the continent. And yet at the same time, Hollywood is telling us how evil corporations and the Western world is responsible for the poor quality of life and monumental human loss which is contained within its borders with films such as The Constant Gardener and Blood Diamond. Both are films which adopt a classical structure and style to tell there so called “African” stories. How utterly refreshing then to bear witness to one of the years most accomplished and beautiful films. There is a moment in Bamako when a local man cries out, seemingly in agony as he testifies in front of the judges. Director Sissako does not subtitle the scene instead allowing its emotional power to resonate on a level much deeper than language. The point being, we don’t need to know what he says to see the pain and anguish he feels. It’s all there in his face. This one scene which comes toward the end of Bamako is one of the most powerful scenes in recent cinematic history. And yet Bamako is unlikely to be remembered as anything other than another African film.

The story centres on a trial, being performed in a court yard of a local township. The prosecution is Africa. The defence, The World Bank. What the trial stands for is that the World Bank is knowingly preventing the development of Africa but demanding the debt Africa owes be paid back, even at the expense of Africa’s service such as education, health and welfare. It’s a damning argument presented in such a way that it hard for the audience to not be appalled and devastated by the Western world. The defence do all they can to defend their principles and seek to locate blame elsewhere but theirs is an unconvincing argument made so not by the prosecution but by there own arrogance and blind ignorance. Throughout the trial, various specialists from the town and neighbouring villages testify on behalf of Africa and each witness gives an impassioned account of how the World Bank and Western World are strangling the development of this great continent. Intermixed between the trial is a glimpse into the life of the people who live in the town, a couple who live in a house on the courtyard. At one point the trial is interrupted by the procession of a wedding, the doorman who allows the witnesses into the trial and some local men who just get together to listen to the testimony.

What makes Bamako such a refreshing, evocative and truly original piece of cinema, certainly to the eyes of the Western world is that it is a completely indigenous cinema, a cinema told by African’s and in an African style. This film doesn’t have a main character, it doesn’t even really have a plot, certainly not a conventional one. What it does have is a purely African identity, and in doing so captures a life not Hollywood morality tale could ever hope to achieve. In the 1960’s a theory was developed which became known as Third Cinema. Deriving from an essay written by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino, they argued that cinema must actively fight Hollywood’s formulaic and escapist cinema and instead promoted a cinema with themes of the masses and a cinema which represents truth. Bamako could be argued, and may one day be heralded by supported of Third Cinema as a milestone in their beliefs. The film is made of the masses, thematically it’s a story which is indicative of the themes and concerns of Africa and is told from a very African point of view.

African cinema has planted itself firmly in the Western world with this magnificent tale of the injustices committed against them with this personal and intimate story. Sissako’s direction is sublime and the use of music lifts the film to a level of emotional engagement by representing the passion and heart of a continent which is so rarely given the opportunity to express itself artistically.