TIMBUKTU

Cinema

Timbuktu had been selected to compete for the Oscars as Best Movie in a Foreign Language. The movie is a genuine gem. An aboslute must-see.

The story birefly...

A cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives -- which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith -- abruptly disturbed.

With Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako offers us an overwhelming and profound movie based on recent tragic events that happened in the Malian city. Jihadists occupied Timbuktu for a year and were driven out beginning of 2013.

Timbuktu is all about faith, religion, women, threatening relentless violence, and hope despite the dark perspectives.

The main strength of the movie is to show us the coexistence of a peaceful, pious population and jihadists who seem to have come out of nowhere. The voice of the imam is strong and powerful and his speech is crystal clear. Faith is not armed. Where is clemency, leniency, forgiveness? Where is God in your action?

Women are outstanding because they dare despite the raw brutality and disrespect they have to support. They dare saying to the Jihadists the absurdity of their orders. Satima explains to the guy asking her to hide her hair with veil, that if he thinks it is indecent, he does not have to watch. The woman, comdemned because she had sung, sings under the whip and in front of her torturers.

Kidane, the main character, is simply harrowing. He is so calm, determined, carried by his profound and sincere faith. And his love for his wife and daughter is his life guide.

The jihadists power and terror is gradually and insidiously growing. The war chefs sound very quiet and calm, and assert without blinking that the sharia is the only acceptable law. Simultaneously, their soldiers are sometimes clumsy, uncomfortable with the rules they have to impose, and sound and look like they enforce a law whose principles totally escape them.

There is still hope though, and mind happens to assert its superiority. As an illustration, the soccer game without a ball (because soccer is forbidden!) is a pure treasure.