On March 23, 2019, at dawn, around a hundred Dogon militiamen attacked the village of Ogossagou, in Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso. Armed with automatic rifles and grenades, they attacked residents, burning houses and killing men, women and children. In all, 134 Fulani lost their lives and 55 others were injured.
Plagued by violence for nearly twenty years, the Sahel has seen the situation worsen since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Over time, this arid territory stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea has become become an ideal place of transition for the trafficking of arms, drugs, migrants and raw materials, from which Islamist terrorists profit.
In Sira, her fifth feature film, Burkinabe filmmaker Apolline Traoré tackles the crisis facing this region head-on, focusing particularly on the experience of African women prey to the violence of Islamic terrorism. “Everywhere I have traveled, there is discussion about the reality of wars across the world. But few people are aware of what is currently happening in the Sahel. It was the Ogossagou massacre that convinced me of the importance of talking about it. »
From then on, the director tackled a screenplay project “a little naively”. “Because what do I know about life in a band of terrorists? » With a satisfactory first draft in hand, she approached the government — “the military, specifically” — for guidance on the realism and truthfulness of her story.
“They made some changes. Then the government gave me permission to visit IDP camps. In these camps, I met extraordinary women who lived improbable stories. I immediately knew that I had to make a film about a heroine. When we talk about war, women and children are always relegated to the status of victims. We never see their actions, the battles they wage. I wanted to honor them. »
Sira, an African heroine
Face the truth
This heroine is Sira, a Fulani teenager who crosses the desert with her tribe to go to the village of her fiancé, a Christian farmer. On the way, the convoy is attacked by an Islamist group who kill all the men. Kidnapped by Yéré, the leader of the terrorists, whom she voluntarily humiliated, Sira is raped and abandoned in the desert, where she finds refuge in a cave. Determined to survive, she discovers the terrorists’ camp, which she sets about pillaging while hatching a plan to organize the escape of the young girls they are holding prisoner to satisfy their urges.
Apolline spares no one — especially not the viewer — with this story of incredible violence, which exposes in detail the cruelty of jihadists and highlights the resistance, courage, combativeness and community spirit that inhabit women who fall under their yoke. “I show things as they really happen. There’s no point in looking away. »
To access these intense areas of vulnerability, the filmmaker worked for a month with the actors of the film even before the start of filming, in the desert of Mauritania. “Already, the interpreters have been able to immerse themselves in the stifling heat of this place where it is an extreme temperature of 50 degrees. I was lucky, during auditions, to come across Nafissatou Cissé, who plays Sira, in her first role. In the eyes of this young woman of 25, I saw a rage that was capable of causing very painful conditions. I was not wrong. »
In the arid vastness of the desert, a Sira dressed in blue and her emotions as raw as they are pure offer a striking contrast. “I wanted to make the spectators feel the same thing I felt when I set foot there. Wherever we look, there is nothing. Only yellow, ocher and this silence… All the elements, the mountains, the trees, the rocks, fade away. All you can see is the bright blue sky above. It’s striking. I chose to dress Sira in blue to recall the celestial dome. »
The filmmaker tackles several taboo subjects head-on – motherhood after rape, homosexuality in jihad, inter-religious marriages – and refuses to submit to codes and expectations. She also fought to ensure that all the elements of the scenario were maintained. “Some producers or financiers had the impression that my heroine did not always act realistically. I answered them: what do you know about what a woman is capable of doing to survive? I also wanted to show that terrorists are really power-hungry bandits, that what they do has nothing to do with God. I knew that my film was going to generate a lot of ink, but I take full responsibility for what I say in it. »
A complicated shoot
To deliver this universe as complex as it is captivating, the director had to overcome several obstacles. After more than a year of work meticulously planning a shoot to take place in the desert of Burkina Faso, the team had to move to Mauritania.
“The army had to accompany us and ensure our protection during the three months of filming. However, at the last minute, there was an attack in the area, and the government refused to move forward. We can understand that the soldiers had other fish to fry. We therefore fell back on a secure location. »
Despite the unstable situation in her country, despite the violence, the precariousness, the fear, Apolline Traoré resists despair. She makes it a point of honor to instill optimism, agency and light through her cinema. “People tried to discourage me from making the film, saying it was too dangerous. Now is the time to talk about it. I was right, because during the first screening in Burkina, we felt great solidarity. The spectators cried and, with each army shot, with each Sira victory, the audience shouted and rose to their feet. It was extraordinary to see that. »