Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

Timbuktu Blu-ray Movie Review

All the way to Timbuktu.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2015

Timbuktu is one of those place names that is so redolent sometimes people don’t stop to think about where it actually is. Could you identify what country this ancient city is in? If you knew that the answer is Mali, you may also have enough contextual awareness to piece together what’s going on in Timbuktu’s early going. Mali has been yet another battleground state for jihadist movements, and in fact the film’s titular city was under the sway of just that sort of fundamentalist mindset for a year or so starting in 2012. As news reports documented in heartbreaking fashion at the time, these “conquerors” were almost willfully abusive to the region’s cultural heritage, smashing and destroying icons that had withstood other, more temperate, assaults for untold centuries if not millennia. A line of totems is serving as target practice as Timbuktu opens, but soon the oppressive tactics of the jihadis have turned from inanimate objects to humans. A devastating indictment of radicalism, Timbuktu also manages to be surprisingly objective in its depiction of these rabid “believers.” While the film gets into some of the less appealing aspects of that good old bugaboo of current American political chatter, sharia law, some of Timbuktu’s most potent emotional elements reside in the vagaries of chance and misfortune.

There’s a drumbeat in certain corners of American punditry and the body politic claiming that sharia law is a major threat to our way of life. That may be a bit of hyperbole, but anyone wanting a dab of ammunition as to just how restrictive and seemingly arbitrary the rules and regulations of sharia are will have a field day with Timbuktu. What’s often fascinating about this, though, is how the ancient proscriptions of sharia have filtered down to be delivered in a supposedly modern world. In the case of Timbuktu, that includes jihadis who (when not terrorizing the populace to “obey”) sit around discussing soccer (despite the fact that soccer is forbidden) or glance at their cellphones (presumably for texts and the like) or, when they do deign to terrorize the populace, wheel into a village on a motorcycle with a bullhorn they use to announce regulations like a ban on music.

Like the immense, seemingly immutable desert which serves as background for much of the film, Timbuktu often seems to be unfolding its story in a weird sort of stasis, something that perhaps only makes the film’s sudden bursts of horrific violence all the more unsettling. The basic plot involves Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed ) and his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki) who, along with their daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed) and a little orphan boy named Issan (Mehdi AG Mohamed), are among the few people who didn’t flee from the region after the jihadis invaded and took control. They live out in the open in a tent (as is the custom), atop a flowing sand dune with what looks like hundreds of miles of barren wilderness surrounding them. That apparent isolation is only an illusion, however, as an early interchange between Satima and local enforcer Abdelkrim (Abel Jafri) proves, when Abdelkrim drives out to the family’s “home” in order to insist that Satima wear a head covering (something she calmly refuses to do). In fact Kidane himself is also “breaking the rules” by deigning to strum his guitar underneath the sub-Saharan starry night. But it’s neither of these “infractions” which ultimately drives Timbuktu’s disturbing course of events.

What begins as an almost comic accident quickly spirals out of control and places Kidane squarely in the sights of sharia excesses. Quite subtly throughout the film director and co-writer Abderrahmane Sissako details how the remaining souls still hanging around Timbuktu take part in their own brands of civil disobedience. Frequently those at the head of the protests (such as they are) are women, and Sissako makes a potent case that while men tend to fight, it’s the women who actually shoulder the greater burden of the jihadist sensibilities. Not only is Satima scolded for not covering her head, another scene finds a martinet jihadi insisting that a female fish monger wear gloves, even if that makes doing her job impossible. Unlike Satima, who rather calmly refuses to comply with “orders,” this saleswoman flies off the handle, almost taunting the officials to haul her away in chains. But in the case of Kidane, Sissako quickly shows that both due to the character’s own tendencies toward passivity and the ensnaring legal tangles in which he finds himself, he’s not able to withstand the onslaught that soon engulfs him.

From our First World perch and from the comfort of our own living rooms, it’s probably too easy for many Westerners to wax philosophic about sharia law, jihadist movements and what a “shame” it all is. Timbuktu, while dealing in macrocosmic socioeconomic and political issues, is brilliantly microcosmic in its depiction of the insanities foisted off on people by these zealots. The inexorably tragic trajectory of the film only adds to its ultimate emotional impact. By the time Timbuktu is over, you’ll probably know exactly where it is, both figuratively and literally. Chances are you might not want to.

Timbuktu Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Timbuktu is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. Digitally shot with the Arri Alexa, Timbuktu makes evocative use of its Mauritanian (filling in for Mali) locations, offering a somewhat narrow but still nicely variegated palette that emphasizes the dusty beiges and ochres of the sand dunes and villages, while also exploiting brilliant pops of color like the bright turquoise and teal dress a local shaman woman wears (see screenshot 4). The image is excellently sharp and precise, resolving potentially problematic elements like swirls of sand effortlessly. Contrast is also strong and consistent, providing an unexpected amount of shadow detail in some nighttime sequences. Close-ups offer abundant fine detail in everything from dust streaked faces to pill on fabrics. There are no issues with image instability or compression artifacts.

Timbuktu Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Timbuktu features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (in a variety of languages including Arabic, French and even English), though once again Cohen has had this disc authored to default to the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track instead, so make sure to check your audio settings when watching the film. The soundtrack is gorgeously layered and spacious sounding, with beautiful if subtle ambient environmental effects creating a vivid representation of the wide open spaces. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and the fascinating score Amin Bouhafa which combines ethnic sounds with a more traditional Western symphonic ambience, is expertly embedded in the surround channels. Fidelity is top notch. Dynamic range is a bit subdued, but gets brief bursts of activity courtesy of some gunfire and the like. There are no issues of any kind to cause concern on this well rendered track.

Timbuktu Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:55)


• Interview with Director Abderrahmane Sissako (1080p; 33:00) is from the Film Society of Lincoln Center and is a fascinating discussion covering some of the film's themes. Sissako speaks in French which is then translated by an assistant. There's a bit of video noise that crops up from time to time on this offering.

Timbuktu Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Timbuktu received a well deserved Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language film, and hopefully this new Blu-ray release will bring it an even wider audience. Anyone on either side of the American political spectrum who has listened to talking heads pontificate on the perceived horrors of sharia law would do well to spend a bit of time with this unsettling film. Almost willfully quiet (until things burst out of control on a couple of horrifying occasions), Timbuktu, like an imam in the film itself, makes its case urgently but without resorting to screed like tendencies. Technical merits are first rate, and Timbuktu comes Highly recommended.