London Film Festival: Timbuktu Review

On Friday 10^th October, I went with my AS Film class to watch Timbuktu at the London film festival. Timbuktu is directed by Abderrahmane Sissako and it has a running time of ninety seven minutes. It was filmed in Mauritania and it features five different languages which are French, Arabic, Bambara, English and Songhay. I would classify this film as a 12A due to the violence and upsetting scenes that are used which may disturb someone who is below this age. The main genre of Timbuktu is drama because it is based on events that have happened in real life which makes the film very touching because the audience can sympathise with the characters and feel their emotions. The father, Kidane is played by Ibrahim Ahmed, his wife, Satima is played by Toulou Kiki and their daughter, Toya is played by Layla Walet Mohamed. The narrative revolves around this particular family however there are many other key characters that contribute greatly to Timbuktu such as Issan, played by Mehdi A.G. Mohamed, who is the families Shepard.

Timbuktu is a foreign film so there are subtitles at the bottom of the screen. However, when one character does not understand what the person they are talking to is saying due to them speaking different languages, there are no subtitles and I believe this was purposely done by Abderrahmane Sissako to help the audience relate with the character and to understand their confusion as we also do not understand what is being said. The film is about the Jihadists who take over Timbuktu, whose goal is to control the people’s faith, leaving them to suffer. The women were forced to cover their heads and hands and basic enjoyments such as music and football were banned. The main protagonist, Kidane lives with his family in a peaceful environment and his ‘goals’ change throughout the narrative. The first goal he has is for him and his family to stay where they are living in the hope that they will be safe and happy but when his Shepard, Issan accidently lets Kidane’s most loved cow, ‘GPS’ run into fishermen, Amadou’s nets, GPS is killed by Amadou meaning Kidane’s next goal is to confront Amadou on what he has done. However, this confrontation leads to Kidane accidently murdering Amadou meaning he was forced to undergo the strict rules designed by the Jihadists but Kidane knows he has done wrong so accepts the death penalty because he believes it was his fate. His goal now was to make sure his wife and daughter were safe as he loved and cared for them greatly and did not want them to be in any danger like he was. Towards the end of the film, Kidane’s final goal was to protect Satima from being shot as she ran towards him just before he was about to face his death but this goal was prevented from being reached by one of the Jihadists (a protagonist), who murdered the both Kidane and Satima together. Timbuktu follows a linear narrative because the events happen in a clear order and the audience can easily follow the storyline. One of the major themes explored in this film is family because Kidane, Satima and Toya have a very strong bond as a family as they are always looking out for one another and the love they have for each other is constantly highlighted throughout the film. Timbuktu puts across the message that family are very important in order to get through tough situations and having children especially is treasured by the people who live in the town. Another theme shown in Timbuktu is torture because there are several scenes that show someone being violently whipped or beaten and one scene showing two people being stoned to death. These scenes were purposely shown to make the audience realise that this type of torture happens in real life and to help them understand the immense pain the helpless victims experienced.

Personally, I believe that the cinematography in Timbuktu was excellent. In the centre of Timbuktu, where all the chaos was happening, the camera would be handheld in certain scenes to represent that the people were beginning to live an unstable life and the new rules were very unsettling for them. There was also a lot of background noise to create a realistic environment and to help the audience to feel as if they were there and the music being played was more upbeat to show how the people are trying to stay positive despite the new laws. However, when Kidane’s family were shown living in the dunes, the camera was still and there was not any noticeable background noise which emphasizes that the atmosphere they lived in was very quiet and possibly the fact that they were oblivious to what was happening back in the town centre. The music played by Kidane was also very peaceful to show that they were relaxed and did not have nearly as many concerns compared to the people living in the centre on Timbuktu. I noticed that a lot of close up’s were used throughout Timbuktu to clearly show the characters emotions and an extreme close up was used of the cow (GPS) after it was murdered to show blood slowly pouring down its nose. This scene was also very quiet so it gave the audience time to reflect on what had just happened. Many establishing shots were used because the scenes frequently changed so it let the audience know where the characters were, meaning they could keep up with the narrative.

Overall, I enjoyed Timbuktu because the themes expressed were very powerful which made me sympathise a lot with some of the characters and feel grateful for the lifestyle that I have. I also did not struggle to keep up with the subtitles so I was able to gain a clear understanding of the film and focus on aspects such as the cinematography rather than just the dialogue.