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Movies / On DVD / Bamako
Bamako

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Bamako (2006)

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Reviews Counted:53

Fresh:45

Rotten:8

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: A courtroom drama and a portrait of everyday Mali life, Bamako approaches both subjects with equal skill and success.

Rated: PG

Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:23-02-2007

Synopsis: The life of a troubled couple from a town in Mali is the focus of director Abderrahmnane Sissako’s BAMAKO. While the husband, Chaka, is out of work, Mele is barely scraping by as a singer in a... The life of a troubled couple from a town in Mali is the focus of director Abderrahmnane Sissako’s BAMAKO. While the husband, Chaka, is out of work, Mele is barely scraping by as a singer in a local bar. As the couple’s problems come to a head, a larger socioeconomic issue runs parallel to and becomes enmeshed with their lives as the community courtyard outside their home serves as the makeshift courtroom for a trial between a civil spokesperson and a large international corporation that may be partially responsible for Africa’s woes. Aissa Maiga and Tiecoura Traore deliver captivating lead performances and Danny Glover co-stars in this observant yet intimate drama. [More]

Starring: Danny Glover, Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra

Starring: Danny Glover, Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Habib Dembele, Djeneba Kone, William Bourdon, Roland Rappaport, Mamadou Savadogo, Mamadou Konate

Director: Abderrahmnane Sissako

Director: Abderrahmnane Sissako
Studio: New Yorker Films

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Bamako

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

This sophisticated picture about a desperate situation expresses its optimism through its style and its respect for the people who appear in it.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
02/26/07
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

That the G8's policies have been disastrous for Africa won't come as news to anyone who goes to see African art-house films.

Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
02/26/07
Nicholas Barber
Nicholas Barber
Independent on Sunday

while the film may be impaired as an oral treatise, Sissako’s use of the trial is still vindicated. It provides rich symbolism in what is, on the whole, a stimulating work.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
02/26/07
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

A thought-provoking film, told in a traditional African form and unique in the often fraught annals of African film-making.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
02/23/07
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

You can’t help thinking that the only people who’d sit through this movie are those already aware of the issues involved.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
02/23/07
Stuart McGurk
Stuart McGurk
thelondonpaper

In the week of The Good Shepherd this stinging indictment of Western involvement in the Third World is timely - or would be, if anyone bothered to see it.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
02/23/07
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

There are countless moments that are subtly transfixing. Even seemingly casual shots - of vendors peddling knock-off Gucci glasses, policemen flirting with local women, a man attached to a drip lying alone in a room - linger in the imagination.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
02/23/07
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Distinctive, with commanding moments.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/23/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Born of indignation, Bamako bears devastating witness to the iniquities of free trade and globalisation from a Malian perspective.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
02/23/07
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Yes, this is strong stuff, but spoken in an articulate, measured, passionate West African voice, it's impossible to ignore.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
02/22/07
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Lensed in warm tones, with impassioned contributions from the non-professional witnesses.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
02/22/07
Philip Williams
Philip Williams
Total Film

Abderrahmane Sissako makes no pretence at neutrality with this indictment of globalised capitalism.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/20/07
David Parkinson
David Parkinson
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ironically, in an attempt to give Africans a voice, Sissako drowns them out.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/20/07
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Very important, very impressive.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/28/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bamako Puts Globalization on Trial

Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | comment Comment
08/24/09
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Bamako is an amazing polemical political film like no other.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/02/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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.

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
06/13/08
Amber Wilkinson
Amber Wilkinson
Eye for Film

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.

Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | comment Comment
06/02/08
Robert Davis
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine

A clumsy, talk-heavy and crushingly heavy-handed hybrid. While it may have the best of intentions, Bamako is sometimes hard to watch.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
08/16/07
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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