Bamako

Bamako is the capital of Mali, and in a domestic courtyard there, a trial is taking place, among many be-robed judges and lawyers and stacks of documents, while the residents wander through and go about their lives. We come into the middle of the proceeding and gradually figure out that the plaintiff is “African Society” and the defendants are the World Bank, IMF, WTO, G-8, and the whole structure of global capitalism. Those in attendance are much like the denizens of the courtyard, and one by one they come forward as witnesses to tell the sad story of neocolonialism and the pauperization of Africa through debt service and conditions imposed by lenders. We wander back and forth between the trial and the characters who pass through, and there’s a parody of a spaghetti Western (featuring Danny Glover) dropped into the middle, so you definitely have to pay attention to keep up, but the film does gather momentum in the summations of the plaintiff’s lawyers. But I still don’t know whether a straight documentary might not have been more effective than this didactic surrealism. Nonetheless, Abderrahmane Sissako’s film is a rare opportunity to see Africa from the inside out. (2006, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-81.)