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Bamako

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Bamako (2006)

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Reviews Counted: 52

Fresh: 44

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.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Feb 14, 2007 Limited

Synopsis: The life of a troubled couple from a town in Mali is the focus of BAMAKO. The twist in the tale is that they have to cope with their problems while a hugely important trial is set up in the... The life of a troubled couple from a town in Mali is the focus of BAMAKO. The twist in the tale is that they have to cope with their problems while a hugely important trial is set up in the courtyard next door to their house. [More]

Starring: Danny Glover, Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra

Starring: Danny Glover, Aissa Maiga, Tiecoura Traore, Maimouna Helene Diarra, Habib Dembele, Djeneba Kone, William Bourdon, Roland Rappaport, Mamadou Savadogo, Mamadou Konate

Director: Abderrahmnane Sissako

Director: Abderrahmnane Sissako
Studio: New Yorker Films

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Release:

Mar 18, 2008

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Bamako

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Bamako is an amazing polemical political film like no other.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/02/08
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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.

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
06/13/08
Amber Wilkinson
Eye for Film

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.

Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | comment Comment
06/02/08
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine

A clumsy, talk-heavy and crushingly heavy-handed hybrid. While it may have the best of intentions, Bamako is sometimes hard to watch.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
08/16/07
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

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.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
08/10/07
Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times

Free of the indignant self-righteousness of Michael Moore's lowbrow sloganeering, Abderrahmane Sissako's poetic drama offers a clear-sighted examination of Third World economic collapse.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
08/09/07
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Bamako is a film that grows on you. Its power is subtle and you don't really feel the impact until it's all over. And when it has, its left with you something unshakeably real.

Full Review Source: Movie Magazine International | comment Comment
07/22/07
Moira Sullivan
Movie Magazine International

If Jean-Luc Godard had kept his sense of humor, he might be making engaging movies like Bamako.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
06/28/07
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
06/22/07
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

[An] intimate, urgent and wildly imaginative indictment of post-colonial economic policies in Africa.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/14/07
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Trial movies can be painful, but Bamako is a powerful polemic leavened with moments of beauty and humor.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/02/07
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bamako is an attack on globalization that is endlessly cogent, confrontational -- and, best of all, as captivating as it is illuminating.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
06/01/07
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Bamako is challenging without a doubt, but Sissako's righteous anger never loses its ability to connect to the heart, even in the film's densest thickets of symbolism.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
06/01/07
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

Overall, Bamako is a passionate plea, filled with interesting ideas and wrapped up in an uneven presentation.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/31/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Awkward, dull film.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/19/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A strange and often haunting little film.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
04/13/07
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Director] Sissako somehow manages to reconcile the passionate words of the debate and the mundane activities surrounding it, but he seems most interested in noting and even marveling at the subtle comedy of their coexistence.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
03/09/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Director] Sissako has an unusual camera eye, patient and alert to the ebb and flow of both the courtroom sequences and the outside scenes. The music is wonderful as well.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
03/08/07
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This sophisticated picture about a desperate situation expresses its optimism through its style and its respect for the people who appear in it.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
02/26/07
Philip French
Observer [UK]
 
 
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