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For more information on cookies see our Cookie Policy. (BUTTON) X Review: Timbuktu For all its terrors, this story about fundamentalism in Mali never drags or seems worthy Donald Clarke Timbuktu: a determinedly accessible film Timbuktu: a determinedly accessible film Film Title: Timbuktu Director: Abderrahmane Sissako Starring: Abel Jafri, Hichem Yacoubi, Pino Desperado, Kettly Noël Genre: Drama Running Time: 100 min Thu, May 15, 2014, 15:52 First published: Thu, May 15, 2014, 15:52 * * * * * I trust Abderrahmane Sissako, director of this powerful plea for sanity, will forgive us if we start with a facetious reference, because, in the early scenes of Timbuktu, it is hard not to be reminded of a gag from one of Woody Allen’s early, funny films. Islamic fundamentalists have taken over the Malian city and are pressing home a series of rigid cultural restrictions. Football is banned. Music is forbidden. In one particularly absurd moment, the bullies insist that, as instructed, an older man roll up the legs of his trousers. One thinks of the dictator in Allen’s Bananas who demanded that underpants now be worn on the outside. It is part of this film’s singular power that it manages to slip from conscious absurdity to appalling atrocity with such confidence. The picture hangs around a family – Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed), Satima (Toulou Kiki) and their daughter – who, living just outside the city, are drawn into the madness following an accidental tragedy. Perhaps their life is a little too idealised: playing guitar in their tent while musing mildly on life. But this is a determinedly accessible film that, for all its terrors, never drags or seems worthy. From the beginning, we are made aware of the fundamentalists’ hypocrisy. They claim to shun all western corruption, but remain addicted to their mobile phones, and use the language of Madison Avenue when making their propaganda videos. The absurdity of their philosophy is elegantly expressed when a group of local boys play a complex game of football without a ball. Timbuktu turns on its axis following the death of Kidane’s ox and his clumsy attempts to exact retribution. Hitherto composed largely of static mid-shots, the film suddenly admits one very long, very beautiful long-shot of our hero walking steadily across a gloomy, silty river. We are clearly moving from satire to tragedy. What we end up with is a film that adeptly meshes political anger with strong traditional narratives. Sofian El Fani’s cinematography is luminous. The music is uplifting. But the message ultimately is dire. Thu, May 15, 2014, 15:52 First published: Thu, May 15, 2014, 15:52 * * * * Subscribe. 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The Film Show The Irish Times Film Show: The Revenant, Creed & Room 7:47 The Irish Times Film Show: The Revenant, Creed & Room The Irish Times Film Show: The Hateful Eight & A War 6:55 The Irish Times Film Show: The Hateful Eight & A War ADVERTISEMENT [adserv|3.0|826.1|4268872|0|170|ADTECH;loc=300;target=_blank;kvtopic=Fi lm;kvcat=cinema;cookie=info;] Film Reviews Room The walls close in on a mother and child in Lenny Abrahamson’s moving, harrowing adapation of the acclaimed novel Creed Creed firmly overthrows any notions that the Rocky films are trading on an elaborate Great White Hope mythology The Revenant ‘The Revenant’ is short on dialogue and thin on characterisation; however the misery is well worth enduring A War (Krigen) The war in Afghanistan is the inspiration for a tense Danish courtroom drama Shem the Penman Sings Again A delightful, playful study of the relationship between Joyce and McCormack The Hateful Eight Tarantino sinks deeper into his auto-mythology with more haphazard plotting, gooey violence and endless dialogue, writes Donald Clarke Last Hijack: a real-world prequel to Captain Phillips Last Hijack Tommy Pallotta’s documentary is nicely presented but lacks a coherent narrative Ballerinas get bolshie in Babylon Bolshoi Bolshoi Babylon “The world of theatre is cruel . . . It looks beautiful from the outside, but inside it's boiling” Donald Clarke's Movie Quiz You can see Twilight twinkling in the eye of this week's quiz... Screenwriter 10 things to note about yesterday’s Oscar nominations * Screenwriter * Donald Clarke We had Charlotte, but not Carol. The Force Awakens encounters unfamiliar failure. And an actor who wasn't nominated steals the show Movie quiz for January 15th * Screenwriter * Donald Clarke Warm yourself up with a good hard quiz Most Read in Culture 1 Family sugar audit: Eva Orsmond with Louise and Ollie Ryan Television: A sugar-crash course in how we are poisoning ourselves 2 Michael B Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in Creed ‘Apollo Creed meant everything to African-Americans’ 3 Did Philip K Dick dream of electric sheep? Much worse 4 Final bow: Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc at the end of the final Friends, in 2004 Friends: they lived perfect lives in a time of plenty. Of course we want them back 5 ‘I think cognitive enhancers should be allowed for academics’ Unthinkable: Is it unethical to take brain stimulants? 6 Dublin Rapper Tommy KD: “I never dreamt I’d be doing stuff like this, like getting the album out or playing my own shows. But at the same time, it’s important to say that everything’s not rosy.” Photograph: Cyril Byrne / THE IRISH TIMES Tommy KD: the Dublin rapper with one of the toughest stories in Irish music 7 Giant’s staircase: Utec, Lima has ‘opened up exciting new frontiers for Peruvian architecture’. Photograph: Grafton Architects, Iwan Baan Studio Bravo Lima: the Irish architects designing the ‘new geography’ 8 Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards: And the nominees are . . . 9 Joseph O’Connor on David Bowie, pictured here in 1965: “Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that the only plausible mission of the artist is ‘to make people feel they’re glad to be alive, at least a little bit.’ There are not many artists who’ve ever managed to achieve that highest of accolades. In my own life, David Bowie was one of them. He was part of my soundtrack, my passport, my pillow. I feel I was enriched to be around during his spell on the planet.” Photograph: CA/Redferns/Getty Images David Bowie: Irish writers pay tribute 10 The dialogues the author creates between Plato and various contemporary characters, including a marketing agent, a Google employee, a Tiger Mum, a radio host and a neuroscientist, convincingly demonstrate the value of continuing the job that Socrates started in ancient Greece. But they also show just why Plato would struggle to be heard today. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein Never miss a story. SUBSCRIBE IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook. com%2FIrishTimesCulture&width=292&height=258&colorscheme=light&show_fac es=true&header=false&stream=false&show_border=true Film News Director Lenny Abrahamson, his wife Monika and James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board, at a party in the Light House cinema in Dublin. Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times Irish Oscar nominations exceed all expectations Pictured celebrating four Oscar nominations for Irish film Room are director Lenny Abrahamson, his wife Monika, and James Hickey, chief executive of the Irish Film Board at a party in the Lighthouse cinema last night.Photograph: Dave Meehan/The Irish Times Oscars: ‘You have to mark an event like this,’ Lenny Abrahamson says Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has paid tribute to ‘magnificent actor’ Alan Rickman on his death. Photograph: Jas Lehal/Files/Reuters J.K. 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