They Will Have to Kill Us First

It is a good documentary on political conflict on Northern Mali and the rise of Al Qaeda/Daesh aurhoritarian fundamentalist rule. The greatest merit is certainly the beautiful cinematography, which also is skilful to show us the country's beauties. However, the film's choice to highlight the musicians' suffering and reactions, as "Jihadists" imposed music prohibition, is its Achilles's heel. Although it is quite an interesting approach, I think it has not been made successfully. It sometimes looks like two movies together (a documentary on war and religious dictatorship and another one on musicians' exhile) instead of a single film. While it is an important is an important political doc, as a musical documentary, it is a weak one, that does not move or involve. The movie is also longer than it should be. Though, it is still good despite these flaws.