Bamako

Abderrahmane Sissako's Bamako (2006) has an interesting experiment at its core-a trail is taking place in the courtyard of a house in which Africans are taking the World Bank and other such institutions to task for the current state of Africa. In this milieu several criticisms can be made by outside influence in Africa and the effects of such interventions, however, the effect is somewhat silting-it comes off as more play like-too many talking heads, while the more interesting film that is taking place recounts everyday life of the inhabitants of the house. A night club singer is becoming estranged from her unemployed husband. Inexplicably, in the middle of the film there is a western parody starring several foreign actors-most prominently Danny Glover. Sissako would go onto direct the impressive Timbuktu, so I see this as step in the director's development as an artist-an interesting failure essentially.