Bamako Screening at 98 Weeks

As part of the ‘Spectres Of: Part 2’ screenings, the 98 Weeks Project Space will be hosting a screening of the film “Bamako” by Abderrahmane Sissako.

In this courtroom drama, which takes place within a mud-walled compound and revolves around an unlikely cast of characters – the plaintiffs are the people of Africa; the defendants, charged with worsening the economic plight of the continent, are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – Abderrahmane Sissako investigates Africa’s social, economic and human crises. An oblique, delicate and sad story also threads its way quietly through the film, concerning a singer named Melé (Aïssa Maïga); her husband, Chaka (Tiécoura Traoré); and their young daughter.

While their destinies are linked with the themes under consideration in the trial, these characters are not so much symbols or ciphers as reminders of the almost incomprehensible gulf between the general and the particular. Without engaging the pity of the audience through sad stories or terrible images, Sissako manages to tackle the central question — have the ostensible good intentions of the West, in particular the World Bank and similar institutions, contributed to the impoverishment and demoralization of the continent? — calmly and systematically, with evident passion throughout.