Meanwhile, in Mali...

I learned of Abderrahmane Sissako's film "Bamako" a few weeks ago, after I caught a review in the NYT. I had the good fortune to see the film yesterday during a Cleveland Int'l Film Festival screening.

The plot revolves around a trial of the World Bank prosecuted on behalf of African society. The hearings take place amid the everyday goings-on of a Malian household, so that the audience not only hears the experiences and opinions of Malian people, but sees the standard of their lives as well.

The film was more incisive and unsettling than I expected. But these are my people, after all [I'm descended from the Fula people, a historically nomadic people whose territory is spread across present-day Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso].