Filmmaker Takes Stand Against Extremism In Oscar-Nominated 'Timbuktu'
Three years ago, when Islamist rebels seized the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu, filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako began planning a film about Islamic extremism. As an African Muslim, he says he always was inspired by Timbuktu's history as a center of learning and tolerance, and wanted to explore how extremist ideology could survive in that setting.
But he didn't want to make another news documentary about Islamic extremism.
"Fiction is much easier, is much more free, to be able to pass on what I want to pass on," he says.
The result, Timbuktu, is one of this year's five nominees for the best foreign language Oscar. It follows a family and a community struggling to maintain normalcy amid crisis. Since it premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Timbuktu has won international accolades with its lyrical beauty and unforgiving critique of religious extremism.
Sissako, who grew up in Mali and Mauritania, uses the film to confront the struggle for power being waged across the continent.
"He's rooted in that tradition of African filmmaking that anchors in the issues of the day," says Mahen Bonetti, director of the New York African Film Festival. "They're not making escapist narratives. They show the complexities and the realities."
According to Bonetti, many African films that make it to the West focus on conflict and suffering, but Timbuktu is different because it shows those struggles through the rhythms of everyday life and the perspectives of everyday people.
"I was so happy that it was made by someone who is an insider ... who has lived in that region, who knows those people," she says. "And I think, like most artists, he talks about what he knows best and cares for most."
A Portrait Of Resistance
The film opens with a gazelle racing across the desert. It's running from a truck full of jihadis, charging forward and waving weapons in the air under the banner of Islam.
Once they've taken Timbuktu, the jihadis force women to cover up, deliver barbaric punishments and forbid any form of entertainment. But in Sissako's film, life finds a way: One of the most evocative scenes shows young Malians going through the motions of a soccer game — they play without a ball, using their imagination to make passes and score goals.
Karima Bennoune, author of Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism, says what makes Timbuktu so significant is its exploration of how Muslims themselves resist extremism.
"It is a portrait both of the reality that people of Muslim heritage have been the first victims of the jihadist groups, [and that] they have also been the first to stand up and resist," she says. "You see this in the film with a singer who is flogged for singing, and who then sings while being flogged."
Sissako says scenes like this are his way of showing how misguided and self-defeating extremist movements can be.
"It is absurd to try to forbid music," he says, "because if you try to suppress it, people will sing inside their head."
According to Bonetti, that approach has helped make Sissako one of Africa's most celebrated filmmakers.
"What has endeared him to African audiences is because he truly he gives them a face and a voice," she says. "He still shows the nobility, the dignity of these people, and these people are the backbone of that continent."
She says she hopes the film's Oscar nomination will introduce Sissako to a wider audience.
Speaking Out Against 'Barbarism'
Timbuktu opened in France almost a month before the attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, and it's since become a box office success. It also won the French equivalent of the Golden Globes for best picture and best director.
But writer Karima Bennoune says those accolades point to an imbalance in how we recognize the struggle against Islamic extremism.
"We're actually not paying close enough attention to the struggles of people on the ground, on the front lines," she says. "And so I believe that we have to tell those stories, and not treat them simply as what a friend of mine calls 'the third-world body count.' "
Still, given the scale of that body count, does Sissako hold his fellow Muslims responsible for not speaking out enough?
"Maybe that criticism is well-founded, to some degree," he says. "But at the same time, I must say that there is building up a revolt in the Muslim world against this barbarism and this extremism. Maybe it's not happening as quickly as one would wish it to happen, but it's coming up. But at the same time I must say that it is the duty of every one of us, not only of Muslims, to stand up against all of these types of extremism."
He says Timbuktu is his way of taking that stand.
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Transcript
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And now we're going to hear about one of the nominees for best foreign language film at the upcoming Oscars. It recently opened in U.S. theaters. The movie is "Timbuktu." The ancient city in northern Mali was attacked and occupied by jihadist fighters three years ago. And, as NPR's Bilal Qureshi tells us, the film is about that occupation.
BILAL QURESHI, BYLINE: "Timbuktu" is inspired by headlines, but filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako says he didn't want to make another news documentary about Islamic extremism.
ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO: (Through interpreter) Fiction is much easier, is much more free to be able to pass on what I wanted to pass.
QURESHI: Sissako grew up in Mali and Mauritania, and his film confronts a struggle for power being waged across the continent, says Mahen Bonetti. She's the director of the New York African Film Festival.
MAHEN BONETTI: He's rooted in that tradition of African filmmaking that anchors in the issues of the day. They are not making escapist narratives. They show the complexities and the realities.
QURESHI: Bonetti says African films that usually make it to the West are infused with war and suffering. She says "Timbuktu" is different because Sissako shows those struggles through the rhythms of daily life.
BONETTI: I was so happy that it was made by someone who is an insider, you know, who has lived in that region, who knows those people. And I think, like most artists, he talks about what he knows best and cares for most.
QURESHI: The landscape of northern Mali is remote and beautiful, but it's threatened by an irrational force. As the film opens, a gazelle races across the desert. It's running from a truck full of jihadists waving weapons in the air under the banner of Islam. Once they've taken the city of Timbuktu, they force women to cover, deliver barbaric punishments and forbid any form of entertainment. But in Abderrahmane Sissako's film version, life finds a way. One of the most evocative scenes shows young men going through the motions of a soccer game. Because it's forbidden, they play without a ball, using their imaginations to make passes and score goals. Karima Bennoune was born in Algeria, and she wrote about Muslims who resist extremism in her book, "Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here." She says "Timbuktu" is a beautiful tribute to that spirit of defiance.
KARIMA BENNOUNE: It is a portrait both of the reality that people of Muslim heritage have been the first victims of the Jihadist groups, but they have also been the first to stand up and resist. You see this in the film with a singer who is flogged for singing and who then sings while being flogged.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TIMBUKTU")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (Singing in foreign language).
QURESHI: Director Abderrahmane Sissako says scenes like this are his way of showing how misguided and self-defeating extremism can be.
SISSAKO: (Through interpreter) It is absurd to try to forbid music, because if you try to suppress it, people will sing inside their head, will continue singing inside their head.
QURESHI: Sissako says this is the kind of quiet resistance that happens every day in places where people live under oppression.
SISSAKO: (Through interpreter) And that waiting silently, quietly, waiting for this time and what's going on to stop, but also he is there. Because when one is not complicit in what's going on, it is also a way of rebelling and revolting against that thing.
QURESHI: That approach is why Abderrahmane Sissako is one of Africa's most celebrated filmmakers, says Mahen Bonetti.
BONETTI: What has endeared him to African audiences is because he truly gives them a face and a voice and the dignity and the simplicity. He still gives - shows the nobility, the dignity of these people, and these people are the backbone of that continent.
QURESHI: "Timbuktu" opened in France almost a month before the attack on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Since then, it's become a box office success. It won the French equivalent of the Golden Globes for best picture and best director. But writer Karima Bennoune says those accolades point to an imbalance in the way we understand the struggle against Islamic extremism.
BENNOUNE: That tells us that we're actually not playing close enough attention to the struggles of people on the ground, on the frontlines. And so I believe that we have to tell those stories and not treat them simply as what a friend of mine calls the third-world body count.
QURESHI: But, given the scale of that body count, I asked director Abderrahmane Sissako if he holds his fellow Muslims responsible for not speaking out enough and for not taking a louder stance.
SISSAKO: (Through interpreter) Maybe that criticism is well-founded to some degree. But at the same time, I must say that there is building up a revolt in the Muslim world against this barbarism and this extremism. Maybe it's not happening as quickly as one would wish it to happen, but it's coming up. But at the same time, I must say that it is the duty of every one of us, not only of Muslims, to stand up against all these types of extremism.
QURESHI: And he says the film "Timbuktu" is his way of taking that stand. Bilal Qureshi, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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