Subtle and affecting with visuals to match, Timbuktu sees the life of a cattle herder and his family tragically impacted by Jihadists arriving from the north.
Living comfortably but isolated in the dunes outside Timbuktu, Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed – Diving, The Mercy of the Jungle) spends time with his wife and daughter with a young shepherd tending to the cattle. Aware of the suppression in Timbuktu with the arrival of the Jihadists, Kidane refuses to be cowed by them and, unlike many of their neighbours, move further south. But events transpire that place the family at odds with local leader Abdelkarim (Abel Jafri – The Passion of the Christ, TV’s Lupin).
Director Abderrahmane Sissako (Bamako, Waiting For Happiness) quietly explores the intricacies of personal faith and a way of life with the confronting new arrivals looking to control that faith and with it suppressing local tradition. There’s no grandstanding – instead it’s delicate and vulnerable.
Nominated for the 2015 Oscar for best foreign language film.
Rating: 81%
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