Bamako

2006

1h 58m

Drama

List

84%

57 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Her marriage on the rocks, cabaret singer Mele (Aïssa Maïga) returns home after a degrading night of work and finds her apartment complex transformed into an elaborate tribunal in which the institutions of international capitalism are being put on trial. Her sister (Djénéba Koné) stands up alongside peasants, farmers and other citizens, appealing to the bureaucrats of the international banking cabal. A long night in pursuit of justice is offset by a sultry evening of Malian life.

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Critics Consensus

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

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martin f

I didn't know much about this movie before watching it so I was no expecting it having such a strong focus on the courtroom drama. Despite taking place in Mali, Bamako takes the heavy responsibility to talk in the name of the whole African continent and against the rest of the world. The argumentation is great and well-brought, it gives you an understanding on how African countries are treated by developed nation limiting their own development. The courtroom, cleverly, takes place in a backyard which gives you a vision of the African's rustic reality. The courtroom drama is sometimes cut with Bamako daily life scenes, that somewhat are connected into a subplot about a couple but this story doesn't have any weight and it's too easy to ignore despite a mesmerizing scene with Aïssa Maïga singing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

david l

Abderrahmane Sissako's Bamako is a courtroom drama that is too limited in scope, thus it would have served better as a stage play. Still, this is a heartbreaking, thematically important movie that is commendable how honest it is about all major African problems such as government corruption and poverty, but the director most extensively criticized the horrible role of the West in the stifled development of this continent, thus making the film admirably anti-globalist in its messaging.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting arguments!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

good stuff great voice too

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Odd and at time fervent movie about social injustice in Africa instrumentalized by Western (northern!) international organizations. The film is embedded in a bizarre/surreal setting in a back courtyard with all sorts of things interfering with the proceedings of the hearing. Difficult to get into at the beginning, but it grows on you, and I do believe to have received a good dose of African life with all its ups, downs and sometimes infuriatingly frustrating circumstances. It helps if you are rudimentarily familiar with economic theory.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

La puissance du cinema africain. Vraiment trÃ¨s beau.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

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Abderrahmane Sissako

Director

Aïssa Maïga

Mele

Maimouna Hélène Diarra

Saramba

Balla Habib Dembélé

Falaï

Djénéba Koné

La soeur de Chaka

Hamadoun Kassogué

Le journaliste

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78%

52%

Waiting for Happiness

93%

81%

Caramel

44%

33%

Quartet

82%

70%

Regular Lovers

100%

82%

L'immeuble Yacoubian

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

A courtroom drama with a difference.

Apr 18, 2016

Full Review

Jeff Shannon

Seattle Times

Unlike other recent films about the plight of Africa, Bamako channels its outrage more directly, yet with greater subtlety, by recruiting real-life witnesses to Africa's economic crises.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 10, 2007

Full Review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Dramatic features born and bred on the African continent are rare commodities on these shores, and the opportunities they offer can stretch far beyond film appreciation and into the realm of world understanding.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jun 22, 2007

Full Review

David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

The work has many strong and honest moments, and striking images. The filmmaker does not idealize anyone, but neither does he indulge in cynicism or despair.

Feb 14, 2021

Full Review

PJ Nabarro

Patrick Nabarro

Bamako works because it offers a corrective to the - sometimes unintentionally - condescending western stereotype of Africa as an afflicted and pitiable continent.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 3, 2020

Full Review

Rob Nelson

City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Bamako Puts Globalization on Trial

Aug 24, 2009

Full Review

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Synopsis

Her marriage on the rocks, cabaret singer Mele (Aïssa Maïga) returns home after a degrading night of work and finds her apartment complex transformed into an elaborate tribunal in which the institutions of international capitalism are being put on trial. Her sister (Djénéba Koné) stands up alongside peasants, farmers and other citizens, appealing to the bureaucrats of the international banking cabal. A long night in pursuit of justice is offset by a sultry evening of Malian life.

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Producer: Maji-da Abdi, Joslyn Barnes, Danny Glover
Screenwriter: Abderrahmane Sissako
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Bambara
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 22, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $112.4K
Runtime: 1h 58m

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