Synopsis

Bamako presents a courtroom drama that takes place in a courtyard, amidst everyday life, in the city of Bamako, the capital of Mali. A series of court hearings are executed, mounted with powerful accounts from witnesses who are pitted against representatives of international financial institutions such as the World Bank. The locals make angry speeches conveying Africa’s grievances towards the failed economic reformations they have been pressured to undertake in the name of development. Filmed in documentary style, the focus of Bamako shifts between the court hearings and the adjacent lives of the locals, whose destinies are closely intertwined with the disputes.

An overtly political film, Bamako is fuelled by the injustices Africa suffers with the systematic institutionalization of global capitalism by the West. The film questions, fundamentally, the functioning of the so-called world institutions, their legitimacy, and responsibilities to African nations in light of their colonial legacies. In his quest to better represent the local situation, director Abderrahmane Sissako filmed the story in the family courtyard where he grew up, and employed a cast comprising of real-life judges, lawyers and locals, some of whom are Sissako’s childhood friends. While Bamako speaks of exploitation and manipulation, it is ultimately a pleading call for action.

Movie Trailer