Timbuktu Analysis

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Timbuktu: The Unseen View on Jihad

The film Timbuktu provides an alternative viewpoint to the standard western portrayal of Jihadists. Sissako provides a humanizing look into the life and struggles of Malians. The movie embraces many concepts that would otherwise be foreign to westerners. The people depicted in the movie are often dehumanized through our media and streams of information. Through this constant barrage of negative information, these extremists and the people under their control are almost never viewed with tolerence. We as Americans often overlook the fact that the middle east is filled with people who have everyday relationships, struggles, and lives. This movie helps shed light on the mostly unseen, intricate lives of these …show more content…

The Jihadists think and fully understand their choices before they make them. Their free will is just as strong as any of ours. The film does a fantastic job demonstrating how these jihadists view themselves as justly as we do. That is one of the concepts spread throughout, while we might believe that we are fighting an evil plague of jihadists, they believe the exact same thing about us. In Nick Pinkerton’s review of Timbuktu, he cites the lack of violence portrayed as a way for Sissako to encourage the viewer to humanize the jihadists and understand the internal weight they carry (Pinkerton 87-88). This also helps the viewer empathize and find similarities they share with the jihadists. While the cultures and locations might be a world's away, this movie helps bring out the human traits in these people. In Elisabeth Lequeret’s review of the film, she provides historical background and contextual information of the jihadists (Lequeret 67-68). She touches on the fact that the choices made are logical to the jihadists. The decisions made are rational and thought out. While many of the decisions and mindset are formed through internal struggles and unseen baggage, to them, the decisions seem just and …show more content…

The movie creates a succinct experience unlike none other. The blend of realism, acceptance, and masterful cinematography creates affinity between two incredibly different cultures. The movie helps humanize the jihadists without vilifying them, something which is almost impossible to see today. The movie makes it encouraging for the view to get process their own thoughts and feelings on jihadists without them being pushed on. Timbuktu makes no attempts to justify many of the terrible acts committed by the jihadists, instead it urges a different view and a open mind on the reasoning and history behind these people. The topic as a whole is very controversial and touchy due to many of the tragedies that have happened in recent years, however Timbuktu is able to deliver a clear, unbiased narrative of the everyday trials and tribulations of living in Jihadist occupied

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