Bamako (2006)

85% of critics liked it
(54 reviews)
65% of users liked it
(2,212 ratings)

Abderrahmane Sissako wrote and directed this offbeat, satiric comedy which imagines how the powers that be in the West might be forced to answer for the damage they've done in the Third World. Mele (Aissa Maiga) is an attractive Malian lounge singer married to Chaka (Tiecoura Traore), though their… More Abderrahmane Sissako wrote and directed this offbeat, satiric comedy which imagines how the powers that be in the West might be forced to answer for the damage they've done in the Third World. Mele (Aissa Maiga) is an attractive Malian lounge singer married to Chaka (Tiecoura Traore), though their relationship is on the verge of collapse. In their eyes, the African continent isn't in much better shape than their marriage, and one day a makeshift courtroom appears in the courtyard near their shabby home. In the courtyard, a handful of powerful international organizations, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are put on trial for their crippling effect on the African economy; as the evidence is presented which explains how these "friends" of Africa have saddled the nations with debts they can never repay, witnesses explain how these actions impact the daily lives of ordinary citizens, who pass through the trial as they go on with their days. Executive producer Danny Glover makes a cameo appearance in a "Cowboys and Indians" sequence which supposedly takes place in Timbuktu. Bamako (aka The Court) received its North American premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 48 min.
Directed By: Abderrahmane Sissako
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Oct 2, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Mar 25, 2008
Studio: New Yorker Films

Critic Reviews

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
If Jean-Luc Godard had kept his sense of humor, he might be making engaging movies like Bamako.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
[An] intimate, urgent and wildly imaginative indictment of post-colonial economic policies in Africa.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
Trial movies can be painful, but Bamako is a powerful polemic leavened with moments of beauty and humor.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Bamako is an attack on globalization that is endlessly cogent, confrontational -- and, best of all, as captivating as it is illuminating.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
A strange and often haunting little film.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
[Director] Sissako somehow manages to reconcile the passionate words of the debate and the mundane activities surrounding it, but he seems most interested in noting and even marveling at the subtle comedy of their coexistence.
Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Bamako Puts Globalization on Trial
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Bamako is an amazing polemical political film like no other.
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Issue-driven drama has rarely been so polemic as it is in this fierce attack on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's role in African poverty.
Robert Davis, Paste Magazine
Sissako's bolt of lightning is how he once again merges spaces: he sets the trial out-of-doors... editing the village's daily events as if they are all a part of the trial's fabric.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
A clumsy, talk-heavy and crushingly heavy-handed hybrid. While it may have the best of intentions, Bamako is sometimes hard to watch.
Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times
Unlike other recent films about the plight of Africa, Bamako channels its outrage more directly, yet with greater subtlety, by recruiting real-life witnesses to Africa's economic crises.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Free of the indignant self-righteousness of Michael Moore's lowbrow sloganeering, Abderrahmane Sissako's poetic drama offers a clear-sighted examination of Third World economic collapse.
Moira Sullivan, Movie Magazine International
Bamako is a film that grows on you. Its power is subtle and you don't really feel the impact until it's all over. And when it has, its left with you something unshakeably real.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Dramatic features born and bred on the African continent are rare commodities on these shores, and the opportunities they offer can stretch far beyond film appreciation and into the realm of world understanding.
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
Bamako is challenging without a doubt, but Sissako's righteous anger never loses its ability to connect to the heart, even in the film's densest thickets of symbolism.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Overall, Bamako is a passionate plea, filled with interesting ideas and wrapped up in an uneven presentation.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Awkward, dull film.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Bamako" is set in the capital of Mali where a trial is being argued in the case of the African peoples vs the World Bank, alleging the World Bank through its usurious loans keeps Africa in a state of perpetual poverty. But after the opening arguments… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Bamako" is set in the capital of Mali where a trial is being argued in the case of the African peoples vs the World Bank, alleging the World Bank through its usurious loans keeps Africa in a state of perpetual poverty. But after the opening arguments point out that the World Bank debt payments dwarf the social services budget of several countries, and the effect of poverty on the citizenry, very little evidence is presented, either way. Alas, the lawsuit is too broad to serve as the basis of a narrative movie and does not adequately give a face to African poverty.(The movie "Yesterday" did excel by bringing the AIDS epidemic down to a human level. And say what you will about "Boston Legal", but that is what it does on a weekly basis, with the issues of the day.) And despite the movie's urgent message, it almost gets lost in its own stridency towards the end.[/font]

Cast

            Aïssa Maïga as MelÃ©

            Helene Diarra as Saramba

            Tiecoura Tracore as Chaka

            Djénéba Koné as Chaka's Sister

            Habib Dembélè as FalaÃ¯

            Hamadoun Kassogue as Journalist

            Hameye Mahalmadane as President of the Tribunal

            Aïssata Tall Sall as Prosecuting Lawyers

            William Bourdon as Prosecuting Lawyers

            Roland Rappaport as Defense Lawyers

            Mamdou Konaté as Defense Lawyers

            Mamadou Savadogo as Defense Lawyers

            Mariam Cissé as Magistarte's Assistants

            Alou Diarra as Magistarte's Assistants

            Oumou Berthé Diakité as Magistarte's Assistants

            Magma Gabriel Konate as Prosecutor

            Youssouf Camara as Courtroom Usher

            Aminata Traore
            
            Salif Samaké as Policeman

            Jean-Paul Boiré as Guard

            Zegue Bamba as Witness

            Aminata Dramane as Witnesses

            Madou Keita as Witness

            Georges Keita as Witness

            Assa Badiallo Souko as Witness

            Samba Diakite as Witness

            Mamadou Lanssiné. Koné as Investigating Officer

            Souleymane Diagouraga as Sick Man

            Pasteur Ezekiel as Pastor

            Andrew Mensah as Translator

            Rokia Kouyaté as Itinerant Poet

            Dahirou Togo as Nurse

            N'Deye Sissoko as Female Announcer

            Abdoulaye Coulibaly as Glasses Vendor

            Mohamed 'Papa' Sissako as Children

            N'to Makadji as Children

            Oumou Sako as Children

            Sanata Traoré as Children

            Souleymane Tounkara as Children

            Abdallah Sissako
            
            Kouyaté. Abdoulaye
            
            Baïssou Berthé
            
            Basékou Koné
            
            Beï Sissako
            
            Keita Bina Gaoussou
            
            Diakaridia Doumbia
            
            Fatoumata Sissako
            
            Fodé Tounkara
            
            Hassane Soré
            
            Issa Doumbia
            
            Issa "Djess" Sacko
            
            Jiddou Sissako
            
            Lamine Camara
            
            Mamou Kimbiry
            
            Nana Coulibaly
            
            Oussène Soré
            
            Ramata Sissoko
            
            Sali Kamaté
            
            Danny Glover as Death In Timbuktu

            Elia Suleiman as Death In Timbuktu

            Jean-Henri Roger as Death In Timbuktu

            Zeka Laplaine as Death In Timbuktu

            Ferdinand Batsimba as Death In Timbuktu

            Dramane Bassaro as Death In Timbuktu

            Baba Tandina as Death In Timbuktu

            Hassan Chérif as Death In Timbuktu

            Hawa Traoré as Death In Timbuktu

            Hawa Mamoudou as Death In Timbuktu

            Touré as Death In Timbuktu

            Habibou Dembele
            
            Tiecoura Traore
            
See full cast

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Bamako (2006)

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Walter M

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