NYFF - Bamako

It is back-to-the-work-week so I'm limiting my film viewing to one per night. Tonight's film crates a difficult dilemma for a reviewer - when are your critiquing the story and message and when are you critiquing the film? I try to focus on the film itself - the characters, pacing, shots, production values, dialog, music, and all the other countless details to work in concert, with proper direction, to yield an entertaining and engaging experience. When the subject matter is political, socially relevant, morally ambiguous, or morally righteous, the reviewer is in a dangerous position of being misunderstood when their review of the film conflicts with the message of the film. For reference, I would never wish to convey that the Nazi Party and Hitler's manifesto was worthy of pursuit but Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will is truly glorious and for its genre (propaganda), it is the apex for this cinema style from which all other films are judged. Occasionally I might enjoy a film's politics (The Contender) but not the film (too overproduced and preachy). Why this prelude? ....

BAMAKO
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako, Country: Mali/France, Release: 2006, Runtime: 115 min.
White Balloon meets Louis Farrakahn

A local community decides to have a trial in a small courtyard space in Mali. Many locals take their place at the podium to give witness about how bad the International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, and other international agencies have exploited their country leaving them with poverty, AIDS, malaria, and no ability to fund their social programs. This court scene is contrasted with intermittent footage of locals as they move through their daily lives. Abderrahmane Sissako directs this film with symbolic action, objects, and commentary on class systems. It reminded me of Buñuel without the payoff or humor at the end. Between these town scenes theplaintiffs, defense, and witnesses all speak with heavy, overly verbose speeches, more like monologues, that are so stuffed withillustrativee vocabulary that I was dozing off as if I were back in church hearing another droning lecture. This showmanship truly detracts for all the messages and statistics that are repetitively thrown at the audience. Add a strange Western sequence where Danny Glover and other non-African shoot it up in the street as if in a Joh Ford film. There are two scenes that are rather engaging and emotional, perhaps by contrast since both are singing sequences where the characters are 'crying' at the plight of their lives and their country. One scene has a peasant singing in his southern dialect while walking amongst the court crowd where he was originally prevented from giving testimony - his song and the reaction of from the crowd is movng - no need for words. The other scene is a lounge singer also singing but with tears and sorrowful sound as if she lost her lover; this shot reminded me of a scene in David Lynch's Mullholland Dr.. Unfortunately these glimmers are lost in the drool, dogmatic, repetitive pattern of the film. One feels numb and drowsy afer the moral lashing being given to westerners, particularly the U.S.. For those who just can't get enough guilt over how we've exploited third world countries, go at it. For everyone else, skip this lecture.

preceded by
INNOCENCE
Arnaud Gautier, France, 2005, 11 min.
Two little girls, faces hidden behind goggles and a mask, struggle in a war-scarred landscape fighting over a loaf of bread. Theimageryy isapocalypticc graphic novel inspired and the dream-like sequence of events is captivating.