Timbuktu

Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako's piercingly relevant Oscar-nominated film offers a study of life under the rule of Islamic jihadists. Set in 2012 in the fabled titular city—once a major hub along the African trade route, as well as a byword for a remote, exotic locale—here Timbuktu is an impoverished backwater town taken over by the militant group Ansar Dine as part of its conquest of northern Mali. The brusqueness of the gun-toting conquerors is emphasized as they bark out directives at the locals designed to impose conformity with their idea of Sharia law (women must wear veils and gloves; smoking and soccer are forbidden), while they also systematically destroy cultural artifacts such as masks and wooden statues. The jihadists are led by a man who has no answer when the saintly local imam demands to know where God is in the jihadists' absurd and often brutal treatment of the locals. At the center of the story is one family that is the target of jihadist “justice” when herdsmen father Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed) becomes embroiled in a feud with a local fisherman that results in the latter's death. The cruelty of the ensuing verdict against Kidane is also reflected in the whipping of a woman arrested for singing, and the execution of an adulterous couple. Both courageous and striking, Timbuktu delivers a wrenching neorealist portrait of peaceful people suffering under the rule of self-righteous, unthinking fundamentalism. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an interview with director Abderrahmane Sissako (33 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine foreign drama.] (F. Swietek)