Words on trial: Oral performance in Abderrahamane Sissako's Bamako

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on orality and performance in Sissako's work, with particular attention to Bamako (2006). I analyse the numerous monologues in the film, both scripted and unscripted, in relation to the film's overall narrative structure, which is multi-layered, digressive and occasionally circular. Drawing on theoretical works by scholars such as Melissa Thackway, Ruth Finnegan and Manthia Diawara, I argue that this formal experimentation with both western and African oral forms is carefully deployed, both to perform the work the film needs to do and to reflect on cinema as an art form. Bamako sparked discussion about the role of the World Bank—it was even screened within the walls of the Bank itself—but it also raises questions about oral communication in general and cinema in particular. The result is a profound interrogation of the performative role of cinema, both as an actor in international politics and as an agent of aesthetic change.