WÙLU World Cinema

When low-level transit employee Ladji (powerfully played by Ibrahim Koma) misses out on a potentially lucrative promotion, his years of scraping by to support himself and his sister finally bring him to a breaking point. He uses his connections to earn money as a drug-runner, dangerous work for which he soon discovers he’s well-suited. It’s not long before Ladji is rising in the ranks of the criminal network, and his control on the situation quickly slips from his grasp as he becomes embroiled in conflicts that stretch from Mali’s government all the way to Al Qaeda. Set in Mali’s capital city of Bamako, the debut feature of director/writer Daouda Coulibaly is at once a bracing gangster film and an intricate political statement on the country’s recent turmoil. — Mike Dougherty