Bamako
New Yorker Films | Release Date: February 14, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The serious accusations are leavened by the moments of brimming, illogical, intimate neighborly dailiness the filmmaker also captures with warmth and infectious high spirits. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
As demonstrated in his previous film, a plangent snapshot of subsistence called "Waiting for Happiness," Sissako is a poet, and the filmmaking in this new picture is stuff of a deserving laureate. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
One reason Bamako feels like a blast of sanity is that the theoretical debates about the state of the world, particularly Africa and more particularly Mali, are only half of its agenda. The other half, broadly speaking, is the life of everyday Africans. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Bamako is something different: a work of cool intelligence and profound anger, a long, dense, argument that is also a haunting visual poem. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Sissako has an unusual camera eye, patient and alert to the ebb and flow of both the courtroom sequences and the outside scenes. The music is wonderful as well. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Never mind Hollywood's big-star, big-budget hand-wringing about Africa - Bamako is the real thing. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
A barrel of laughs, this ain't. But it's a fearless high-wire act, grim and witty, confrontational and self-mocking. Its message may be dire, but Bamako is a feat of intellectual and cinematic daring that will leave your brain buzzing. Read full review
80
VarietyDeborah Young
Rather miraculously, picture succeeds in painlessly educating its viewers about global politics and economics while it describes contemporary Africa with freshness and clarity. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Far from an easy watch, either in terms of its hard-hitting content, seemingly haphazard structuring or its dense symbolism. But this makes sense of the political intricacies by balancing the rhetoric and statistics with everyday occurrences that give the iniquities and inadequacies a human face. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Sissako makes his point: Africa's best treasure is its humanity. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Bamako is an attack on globalization that is endlessly cogent, confrontational -- and, best of all, as captivating as it is illuminating. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Bamako, with Sissako's poetic blend of the humdrum and the theoretical, is altogether fascinating. Dramatic features born and bred on the African continent are rare commodities on these shores, and the opportunities they offer can stretch far beyond film appreciation and into the realm of world understanding. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Credit Sissako for entertainingly blending serious international issues with the daily comings and goings of village life. A bit more Glover wouldn't have hurt - but you can't have everything. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Heated speeches about the International Monetary Fund, debt relief and global responsibility may not sound like your idea of Friday-night entertainment, but Sissako makes a strong case. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
A powerful polemic leavened with moments of beauty and humor. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNathan Lee
Bamako brings relief from the latest round of Africa chic in the media, reversing "the flood of information that flows one way." It colors the Africa Problem from the inside out. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
No one can deny the powerful reality that weaves its way through Bamako. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The film feels oddly slack and inert, livened only by testimony better suited to another forum. Read full review
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