Bamako: The Court

"Some men sit outside the compound of a family house in the Malian village of Bamako. An ancient bullhorn-style speaker is draped over the wall by its wires, so people outside can listen to the trial within.A witness says that, difficult as they are, the problems the people are facing can be overcome. They just need to organize themselves. One of the men outside then saunters over and disconnects the speaker's wires so he can drink his tea in peace.

"This trial," he says to the fellow next to him, "is becoming annoying."

The moment comes well over halfway through "Bamako" ("The Court"), written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. It's a self-conscious gesture, the aesthetic equivalent of having the rock star Bono stop during one of his mid-concert sermons to apologize for "bugging" his audience with the politics of African debt relief, or what have you."

[The Daily Star: Sissako's 'Bamako' gives in to the rage]