Timbuktu

Timbuktu, the new film from Abderrahmane Sissako, is, like his 2002 drama Waiting for Happiness, a poetic study of a place little explored on film, as seen through the eyes of some of its inhabitants. The setting is the titular ancient North African city where, in 2012, foreign jihadists descended upon the once-peaceful community and essentially took control of it. These outsiders now occupy the city, enforcing their radical interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia moral code on the residents.  In the film, we see how machinegun toting “men of God” ban music, smoking, and mixed-sex gatherings (even in private homes), as well as sports and loitering in public streets. Women must wear headscarves and gloves as symbols of modesty, even when these garments are totally impractical for their work. For one family living in the quiet hills on the outskirts of the city, life doesn’t change too much until a conflict that has nothing to do with the jihadists brings the father, Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed), face to face with Sharia law.

Timbuktu looks at the terror and humiliation of occupation with an uncommonly serene eye. Each image of this extraordinarily photographed picture is carefully chosen.  Using only his visual compositions and the calm, relaxed, presence of his actors, Sissako conveys to the audience an instant feeling of what life was like in Timbuktu before the jihadists arrived.  We see the ludicrous incongruity of the misguided soldiers with their ungodly weapons and intrusive flashlights in this tranquil, close-knit, and devout community. Many images and scenes would be comical if they weren’t so tragic.

Sissako was inspired to write the film after Islamic extremists publically stoned a young couple to death for infidelity and for living together and having children out of wedlock. This brutal execution took place in 2012, in the village of Aguelhok in northern Mali, in front of 200 witnesses. According to Sissako, it seemed the incident was all but ignored by the world press because it occurred on the release day of the latest iPhone, which dominated most media coverage.  But this movie does not scold Western audiences for being uninformed about Middle Eastern culture or insensitive to the issues of the region. Instead, it presents an intimate view of radical Muslim extremists from the perspective of everyday Muslims. The film is almost an answer to those voices in the Western popular press who ask why more religious Muslims don’t denounce Islamic terrorism. The characters in Timbuktu are totally baffled by their oppressors and virtually powerless to stop them.

The performances in the film are first rate. The cast is as appealing and as beautifully photographed as the setting. Notably, one of the main jihadists leaders, Abdelkrim (Abel Jafri), is not painted as a mustache-twirling (or beard-twirling in this case) villain.  Abdelkrim is an attractive man with whom we can identify.  At first we think he lusts after Kidane's wife (Toulou Kiki), but as the film progresses we see his feelings run deeper than that. It may actually be the humble yet deeply fulfilling life this simple family leads that draws the interest of the imperious and unsatisfied soldier. This story thread is one of the many aspects of this sorrowful movie that gives it a curiously hopeful quality.