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Bamako
New Yorker Films


6.6

based on 18 reviews
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based on 6 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Aïssa Maïga, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Balla Habib Dembélé, Djénéba Koné, Hamadoun Kassogué, William Bourdon, Mamadou Kanouté, and Danny Glover

Set in the courtyard of house in Bamako, the capital city of Mali, this film features a mock trial between representatives of African society and international financial institutions. Alongside these very public political proceedings, the film offers an intimate glimpse of everyday life in contemporary Africa.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Abderrahmane Sissako
DIRECTED BY:	Abderrahmane Sissako
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 19, 2008 Theatrical: February 14, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	115 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Mali / USA / France
LANGUAGE(S):	French / Bambara (with English subtitles)

Nominated, Most Promising Actress (Maïga), 2007 César Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The serious accusations are leavened by the moments of brimming, illogical, intimate neighborly dailiness the filmmaker also captures with warmth and infectious high spirits.

100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

As demonstrated in his previous film, a plangent snapshot of subsistence called "Waiting for Happiness," Sissako is a poet, and the filmmaking in this new picture is stuff of a deserving laureate.

100

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

One reason Bamako feels like a blast of sanity is that the theoretical debates about the state of the world, particularly Africa and more particularly Mali, are only half of its agenda. The other half, broadly speaking, is the life of everyday Africans.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Bamako is something different: a work of cool intelligence and profound anger, a long, dense, argument that is also a haunting visual poem.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Sissako has an unusual camera eye, patient and alert to the ebb and flow of both the courtroom sequences and the outside scenes. The music is wonderful as well.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Never mind Hollywood's big-star, big-budget hand-wringing about Africa - Bamako is the real thing.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Bamako is an attack on globalization that is endlessly cogent, confrontational -- and, best of all, as captivating as it is illuminating.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Sissako makes his point: Africa's best treasure is its humanity.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A barrel of laughs, this ain't. But it's a fearless high-wire act, grim and witty, confrontational and self-mocking. Its message may be dire, but Bamako is a feat of intellectual and cinematic daring that will leave your brain buzzing.

Variety Deborah Young

Rather miraculously, picture succeeds in painlessly educating its viewers about global politics and economics while it describes contemporary Africa with freshness and clarity.

Empire David Parkinson

Far from an easy watch, either in terms of its hard-hitting content, seemingly haphazard structuring or its dense symbolism. But this makes sense of the political intricacies by balancing the rhetoric and statistics with everyday occurrences that give the iniquities and inadequacies a human face.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Bamako, with Sissako's poetic blend of the humdrum and the theoretical, is altogether fascinating. 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.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Credit Sissako for entertainingly blending serious international issues with the daily comings and goings of village life. A bit more Glover wouldn't have hurt - but you can't have everything.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Heated speeches about the International Monetary Fund, debt relief and global responsibility may not sound like your idea of Friday-night entertainment, but Sissako makes a strong case.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

A powerful polemic leavened with moments of beauty and humor.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

No one can deny the powerful reality that weaves its way through Bamako.

Village Voice Nathan Lee

Bamako brings relief from the latest round of Africa chic in the media, reversing "the flood of information that flows one way." It colors the Africa Problem from the inside out.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The film feels oddly slack and inert, livened only by testimony better suited to another forum.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ken G gave it a4:
Movie has something worthwhile to say, but it says it in a way that is tedious. This only comes to life a couple of times, late in the movie, with a cuple of passionate speeches. The message and lessons of this movie, probably could have been better served in a doctumentary.

Andrew B. gave it a6:
Way too much filler. Too many scenes of people doing laundry and walking around. I did really appreciate the moments when they focused on the courtroom arguments. For me, that was the only really important part of this movie. The rest of it was repetititve, dull, and almost provocatively boring. I would have rather just seen the courtroom action and hear the arguments summed up in about half an hour. The rest was slow torture.

Christos T. gave it a10:
Four friends went to see this film together. Two walked out after twenty minutes because they had a bit too much to rink. The two of us that stayed thought it was sublime. This is a courtroom drama that is cinematic rather than theatrical, and for that reason probably "difficult" for my generation, raised on Law and Order Sexual Titillation Unit. It is also probing, intelligent, moving, confronting and formally exhilarating.

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Bamako New Yorker Films

Bamako
New Yorker Films