Bamako

Melé (Aïssa Maïga) sings in a bar in Bamako, and she lives in the same compound where her husband Chaka (Tiécoura Traoré) is out of work and their marriage is coming apart. In the shared yard, lawyers and witnesses set up a trial against the World Bank and the IMF, with court in session while neighbors cook, dye cloth and hang laundry. Sissako lets the proceedings run beside the household, the judge's table, the lawyers' robes and the washing lines all in one yard.