This is a very confused piece.
One is never quite sure which side the filmmaker is on. Is he on the side of the newlyformed Malian republic with a socialist flavour or on the side of the business people who find the new Republic a problem for their profit margins.
Maybe he isn't on anybody's side but simply painting a realistic picture of the situation in Mali after the French departed in the very early 1960s.
The use of blatantly Parisian actors is a bit weird. The main actor is French Congolese the main actress is Cape Verdean French. Both of them excellent anyway.
Was it impossible to find two Malians as main actors?
Anyway many of the actors in the film are Malians so it isn't such a big crime after all.
The photography side of the operation is very successful as are the costumes and the feeling of the times.
What is not successful is the storyline unconvincing at the best of times. For me also the educated Parisian accent of the two main contenders is quite difficult to swallow.
As part of a wider reflection when a country decides to take a socialist route yes many will not want that and fight it and yes often the new regime will repress those people. In a way in this film it is shown very graphically very clearly.
The final stretch of the film shows the situation in 2012 in northern Mali and shows that the Taliban/jihadist has now enforced Rules which are in their way more Draconian than any of these early 1960s socialist injunctions.
I am not aware of other works by the director here so I have nothing to compare this one with; But I found this plot a little bitty in places Lacking an overall storyline and the finale was really quite cockeyed and trite it seemed to me.
Anyway it was nice to see a film on Mali although I am not sure a French crew is really the best to go and make that there. Maybe Films made about Mali should be made by Malians especially considering the history between those two countries.
Maybe it is still too soon for France to have anything to do with that place especially with the recent Operation Barkhane French military "help " Against the Taliban which was so counter-productive that the government finally asked them to leave replacing them with the Wagner Russian mercenary force a move some might describe as out of the frying pan into the fire ....
This film is totally worth seeing especially if you're interested in African politics or the history of Africa or the history of colonialism...
