This sophisticated picture about a desperate situation expresses its optimism through its style and its respect for the people who appear in it.
Comment
02/26/07
Bamako (2006)
85
%
Tomatometer
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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.
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... [More]
Starring: Danny Glover, Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra
Director: Abderrahmnane Sissako
Reviews for Bamako
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.
02/26/07
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.
02/26/07
A thought-provoking film, told in a traditional African form and unique in the often fraught annals of African film-making.
02/23/07
You can’t help thinking that the only people who’d sit through this movie are those already aware of the issues involved.
02/23/07
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.
02/23/07
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.
02/23/07
Top CriticDistinctive, with commanding moments.
02/23/07
Top CriticBorn of indignation, Bamako bears devastating witness to the iniquities of free trade and globalisation from a Malian perspective.
02/23/07
Top CriticYes, this is strong stuff, but spoken in an articulate, measured, passionate West African voice, it's impossible to ignore.
02/22/07
Lensed in warm tones, with impassioned contributions from the non-professional witnesses.
02/22/07
Abderrahmane Sissako makes no pretence at neutrality with this indictment of globalised capitalism.
02/20/07
Top CriticIronically, in an attempt to give Africans a voice, Sissako drowns them out.
02/20/07
Top CriticVery important, very impressive.
10/28/06
Top CriticBamako Puts Globalization on Trial
08/24/09
Click to read the article
04/23/09
Bamako is an amazing polemical political film like no other.
07/02/08
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.
06/13/08
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.
06/02/08
A clumsy, talk-heavy and crushingly heavy-handed hybrid. While it may have the best of intentions, Bamako is sometimes hard to watch.
08/16/07
Latest News for Bamako
February 15, 2007:
Critical Consensus: "Music" Is Catchy; "Bridge" Is Sturdy; "Girls" Is So-So; "Breach" Is Tense; Guess "Ghost Rider" Tomatometer
This week at the movies, we've got skulls ("Ghost Rider," starring Nicolas Cage), songwriters ("Music and Lyrics," starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore)... More...
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