'BAMAKO' PUTS HUMAN FACE ON AFRICA'S PLIGHT.

Byline: Glenn Whipp

Film Critic

A courtroom drama unlike any other, Abderrahmane Sissako's "Bamako" follows a mock trial that pits the interests of the African continent against those of the World Bank. The proceedings take place in a courtyard of a rundown Mali home where insects swarm around the robed judges, turning the event into a spectacle that would be ludicrous if the issues weren't so serious.

Sissako tries -- and, for the most part, succeeds -- in pulling off the impossible. He wants to impart a lot of dense information, facts and statistics contained in some pretty long and windy speeches, and he wants to entertain, too.

So "Bamako" also contains a bracketing story about a sexy lounge singer (Aissa Maiga), a stolen gun and a mysterious murder.

There's also a movie within the movie, an allegorical spaghetti Western called "Death in Timbuktu," featuring Danny Glover (one of the film's producers) and others letting the lead fly.

Such absurd moments might seem out of place. But when nearly half of an African nation's revenues go toward paying down debt, leaving precious little for schools, health care and basic services, maybe we need to find a new definition of preposterous.

"This is what it's come to, what we've learned from the system -- pay or die," says Aminata Traore, a writer and one-time minister of Malian culture. "That's the West's lesson that we inflict upon ourselves."

"Bamako" is challenging without a doubt, but Sissako's righteous anger

never loses its ability to connect to the heart, even in the film's densest thickets of symbolism. Hollywood has tried to get at Africa's plight, but Sissako does it from the inside out, putting a human face on the continent's grave inequities.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

BAMAKO - Three stars

(Unrated: adult themes, violence.)

Starring: Aissa Maiga.

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako.

Running time: 1 hr. 58 mins.

Playing: Landmark's Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles. Danny Glover will conduct a Q&A following tonight's 7 p.m. screening and introduce the 9:50 p.m. show.

In a nutshell: Mock trial pits Africa against the World Bank. The results aren't surprising but the movie's humanity might take you off guard.

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Director Abderrahmane Sissako addresses Africa's issues in two stories in his new film, "Bamako."