OVP: Timbuktu (2014)

Film: Timbuktu (2014)
Stars: Abel Jafri, Hichem Yacoubi, Toulou Kiki, Pino Desperado, Kettly Noel, Fatoumata Diawara
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Foreign Language Film-Mauritania)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

I'm always excited when a country gains its first nomination at the Oscars in the Foreign Language film category, as it's usually my first introduction to that country and its filmic output.  This was certainly true for Mauritania, which enjoyed its first nomination with the controversial and provocative Timbuktu.  The film, which is hard to follow for those who don't have a regular study of the politics of the region, is still a difficult and haunting film that stands out in a way that not only keeps select scenes highly memorable, but makes you want to take the plunge further in the country's cinematic output.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film takes place over a series of vignettes, slowly linking together as the film progresses.  Character names are dropped, but rarely picked up, and really the characters end up being more like descriptions rather than specific people, human characters hidden amidst a terrorist Jihad group similar to Boko Haram.  The humanity in that though, the fact that there is something so unknowable about these characters, allows you to project a lot of your personality and feeling toward the characters, making certain scenes hauntingly real.

Because brutal doesn't begin to describe the difficult nature of this particular film, steeped in torture and death.  For starters, the heat is unrelenting.  There is a scene late in the film involving cattle in a river that feels almost cooling for a second-we see the water rushing and are given some respite from the sand, but then we still have to deal with the death.  We see an original sin-style scene, where a seemingly innocent man is pushed too far, killing a man over his most beloved cow being slaughtered.  This death ends up coming back to haunt him and his family as the film progresses, with his wife eventually trying to end his death at the hand of the Jihad, only to die herself and leaving their young daughter an orphan in the sand.

The film frequently comments on the humanity of the villains, leading to the supposed controversy surrounding the film, but like Downfall a decade ago, this is just creating a situation behind villainy.  There's no condoning the actions of the terrorists, but perhaps just questioning their decisions.  They are still human, frequently discussing women and soccer despite strict rules against such things, but they also clearly have a choice in the torture and death they impose, and even they sometimes question the why, and most meaningfully, the "what for" of the tyranny.  What purpose does all of this death and destruction, this extreme violence (the stoning scene in the middle of the film is certainly the most brutal thing I've seen onscreen in a long time-I almost had to leave the theater until it was over and was certainly watching through cupped hands)?  It's a question that Western audiences might find alien until they realize that some of their citizens are prepared to run off to join ISIS and realize that this sort of horrible decision-making and celebration of destruction reaches to every corner of the globe.

Those are my thoughts on this thought-provoking but very tough film.  I am curious A) if any of you have seen it (I saw it at the Walker Art Center, which is generally code for this being in like ten theaters in America) and B) what you thought?  It's a blank slate sort of movie, frequently beautiful even when it's more a series of ideas and essays than an actual cohesive film.  Share your thoughts below if you were a fan (or not so much)!