Malians vs. the IMF

>> Bamako is a bold and tricky
work of political cinema

by MALCOLM FRASER

In a small courtyard in Bamako, the capital of Mali, a makeshift tribunal is set up. A group of ordinary Africans is suing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for the misery their economic policies have inflicted on the continent. Witnesses take the stand, lawyers object to each other, and judges get frustrated, just like on Law & Order. But around and amongst the legal drama, ordinary life goes on, and several domestic dilemmas play out at a languid southern pace. Such is the loose plot of Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako’s bold and intriguing new film now hitting Montreal after racking up prizes on the international festival circuit.

It must be said that Bamako is, narratively speaking, one of the most unusual films in recent years. Most of the film has a documentary style and structure, and indeed many of the figures at the trial are real lawyers, judges and witnesses telling their actual stories. The subplots that weave in and out are disjointed and vague; reading the press release after the screening, I noted an emphasis on a plotline that I hadn’t actually noticed taking place in the film. As if there wasn’t enough to take in, Sissako also throws into the mix a scene in which several characters watch a bizarre Western starring Danny Glover. The film-within-a-film, loaded with ambiguous metaphors, briefly takes over the narrative, then disappears never to be referred to again.

Not since Godard’s middle-period collages has there been such a flagrant conflation of agitprop, cinematic tricksterism and proletarian realism. Yet Bamako is in no way a throwback to earlier political filmmaking, but a fresh take on a contemporary subject of much urgency. The film offers no big-picture explanation of the situation that’s provoked the trial, so a quick refresher course on contemporary global economics is strongly recommended for anyone going in blind, lest they be overwhelmed by the detail that verbally circulates throughout the ramshackle court.

With its dense and politicized content, unconventional approach to storytelling, and almost provocatively slow pacing, Bamako is certainly not for everyone. But cinephiles interested in diversity and novelty will be sated, and activist cinema can claim a rare poetic voice.

Bamako opens this Friday, March 30

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