March 4, 2015
Page 9
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Ibrahim Ahmed and Layla Walet Mohamed in ‘Timbuktu,’ the story of a small African community’s experience of jihad.
L ES F ILMS DU W ORSO - D UNE V ISION
into O PINIONATED
Window
Oppression
Human spirit refuses
to be crushed
in ‘Timbuktu’
D ARLEEN O RTEGA
No film at this year’s Portland Interna-
tional Film Festival left a mark on me as
indelible as "Timbuktu." Gorgeous, poetic,
pointed, and profound, this story of a small
African community's experience of jihad
manages to tell a political story without po-
BY
lemics, to portray with depth and insight how
its victims actually experience religious ex-
tremism, and, at the same time, to unforget-
tably illustrate how the human spirit resists
attempts to crush it.
The film's opening moments telegraph the
style and intention of director Abderrahmane
Sissako, who was born in Mauritania and
now lives in France. A gazelle hurtles across
the sand, pursued by a barrage of gunshots
from half a dozen AK-47s fired by young men
chasing it in a pick-up. The gazelle runs and
runs, as the men continue to shoot and miss
J UDGE
it. "Don't kill it," the men say. "Just tire it."
More shots ring out, this time aimed at a
line of idols, arranged in a row as targets.
These are art objects, carved human figures
presumably meant to evoke the local popu-
lace as ornamental and religious statuary.
The men shoot mercilessly, destroying the
side of a face, a breast, an arm, and shooting
through a chest.
The actions of the shooters have a quality
of intention, yet they feel crude, indiscrimi-
nate. All forms of artistic expression are
forbidden in this extremist version of Islam;
these objects will no longer be allowed. But
it feels relevant that they are shooting at a
rendering of faces and limbs that evoke the
local population and its culture, traditions,
and art. The targeted callousness of the
shooters serves more than one purpose.
The armed invaders are not from the local
BY J UDGE
D ARLEEN O RTEGA
culture. Rather, they are young men from
Arab cultures; they speak Arabic, French, a
little English, rather than the local languages.
They shout orders through the streets: Smok-
ing is forbidden. Music is forbidden. Playing
with balls is forbidden. Women must wear
gloves. Essentially all expressions of indi-
viduality, all evocations of feeling are no
longer allowed.
Yet they mostly do not appear to be reli-
gious zealots, but rather bored young men,
bullies here to do a job. We hear them talking
about their favorite European soccer teams.
One of the commanders regularly sneaks off
to smoke. He drives all the way out to a
married woman's house away from the town
to flirt with her when her husband is away,
and chides her for having her head uncov-
ered.
continued
on page 13