Cannes. Bamako.

"Writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako is to be admired for not giving up on a film that features many African voices that do cry out to be heard," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Ray Bennett. Bamako, screening Out of Competition, depicts a trial in which the plaintiff is the African nation; the defendant is the West. Debt cancellation is hardly enough. "The sentence being sought is community service, for all mankind, for eternity. It seems the least to ask for."

"On paper, Sissako's film might sound dry and heavy-going," writes Time Out's Geoff Andrew. But "Sissako creates a richly varied film of considerable poetry, wit, wisdom and power."

Updated through 5/25.

"A strong candidate for African film of the year," declares Variety's Deborah Young, noting that Bamako "brilliantly rises to the challenge of presenting a serious discussion of globalization, African debt and the World Bank in a lively, entertaining feature film. Rather miraculously, pic succeeds in painlessly educating its viewers about global politics and economics while it describes contemporary Africa with freshness and clarity."

The Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu: "No mere documentary, Bamako is full of sly humour, and even includes within it a small comic film: Death in Timbuktu - a mock western which has walk-on parts for Danny Glover and Divine Intervention director Elia Suleiman as gun-slinging cowboys."

Posted by dwhudson at May 24, 2006 4:29 AM