In the midst of the Malian desert, Timbuktu is occupied by jihadists set on forcing their new order on the region. Kidane and his wife Satima, daughter Toya and their cows live a peaceful life, far from the murderous insanity, despite increased surveillance and new regulations. But an incident with a local fisherman changes things for Kidane, who is forced to face the laws of the new occupiers of Timbuktu …

Picture gallery

At a time when the world is being ravaged by religious extremism, it’s hard to see Timbuktu as just a movie. However, Abderrahmane Sissako, the Mauritanian director of Bamako and En attendant le bonheur, doesn’t hide the fact that his film was born out of rage due to the fact that a Malian couple was buried and then stoned to death after having children without being married, and that the media ignored the story. Sissako’ movie is therefore a kind of brutal illustration, sometimes ludicrous, of the alarming situation within a country taken hostage by jihadists. Abderrahmane Sissako’s camera does not spare viewers the extreme violence of reality, nobly adapted for the screen and alternately difficult and beautiful – the wide angle shot of the murder by the river. A gripping cry of pain that counterbalances the somewhat awkward narration, sometimes asymmetrical characters and degrees of violence.