Timbuktu: A movie by Abderrahmane Sissako

Dear Friends,

Last weekend, I was able to see the movie "Timbuktu" by Abderrahmane Sissako.  Following the movie there was a conversation between Sissako and Charles Sugnet from the University of Minnesota.  The screening and discussion were part of the Walker Art Center's film series which included several films by Sissako under the title of Abderrahmane Sissako: Africa's Visual Poet.  The film has won many awards around the world including being nominated for best foreign language film by the Academy Awards, and it has received rave reviews.

The story is based on the occupation of a small city in northern Mali by a terrorist group that imposes its distorted view of Sharia law.  The cruelty, injustice, violence and hypocrisy are all clearly portrayed, but so is humanity even the humanity of the terrorists.  The visual aspects of the film are incredible.  If you get a chance, you should definitely see this film.

In the discussion that followed, Sissako made it clear that one should not discuss the film immediately after seeing it as one needs time and space to contemplate, analyze and make sense of what he or she has seen.  He was absolutely right.  Nevertheless, he was there, and it was the only chance to discuss so the discussion proceeded.

Sissako made two points in that discussion that really stuck with me.  The first was that we are all humans.  He was clear that it is important to acknowledge the humanity in all of us (even the terrorists), and that if we fail to acknowledge the humanity in all of us, we will certainly lose our own humanity.  The second point was that the media fails to acknowledge the terrible crimes that are committed against Africans.  He points to the fact that a beheading by ISIL of an American journalism gets the attention it deserves, but the stoning of a couple in Mali who have two children but are not officially married gets no press in the western media.

In the days since I saw the movie and heard the discussion, many questions have arisen to which I need to seek answers.  Researching and writing blogs is one way for me to seek those answers.  So I plan on writing several posts about the questions that this movie raised for me.  Currently those questions include:

Is it the pervasive racism in Europe and North America that leads the media to highlight crimes that are committed against whites of European descent?  How racist am I that I am more impacted by killings, terrorism and violence in Europe and North America than I am by those in Africa and the Middle East?

Why does the United States foreign policy treat Saudi Arabia differently than other authoritarian dictatorships that oppress, torture and kill their people and deny basic human rights and support terrorism?  Is it that Saudi Arabia has oil that the United States and the big businesses that control the United States want?

Really who is who in the Middle East? Which countries are allies, which countries are enemies, which countries change their alliances based on who the enemy is?

Where do all these terrorists get their weapons and ammunition?  What impact does big business have on the huge supply of arms available in the world?  Is the United States a major supplier of these arms and if so, when will we stop arming the world's terrorists?

Does the United States have an obligation to try to stop genocide and terrorism throughout the world? Can the United States actually have a positive impact in the Middle East?  Have the United States efforts since 2001 made anything better in the Middle East or only worse?  What can we learn about how to proceed in the future based on the impact we have had in the last decade and a half?

What impact will the 2016 elections in the United States have on man's inhumanity to man as currently best exemplified by ISIL?

I have a lot of reading to do.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal