Review of “Sira An African Heroine”: A Woman Who Stands Up to Jihadists

Burkina Faso's Oscar submission focuses on the fate of women by jihadist terrorists crossing the Sahel.

Sira (Nafisadou Cisse) crosses part of the Sahel with his family on camel back to find his fiancée, Jean Sidi (Abdiramane Bari). Despite the dangerous nature of travel due to the presence of terrorists, the mood is almost upbeat. In addition, Sira is a Muslim like his father and his family. His right-hand man, Moustafa (Mike Dannon), takes a very negative view of Sira hooking up with a farmer.

The worst will come soon. A group of jihadists invaded a camp of nomads, killing men and women. Sila confronts Yere (Lazare Minoungou), the leader of the attackers, and is raped by the latter and left to die in the sand. A 17-year-old boy gets up and walks. But her footsteps lead her to her attacker's military camp, where women are taken from their communities and raped daily. Discovering her pregnancy, the teenager decides to hide in the rocks overlooking the camp and steal water and supplies from the jihadists.

Living in the shadow of the terrorists, Sira, who is pregnant, tries to convince the women to rebel against their captors through nighttime infiltration.

Burkina Faso's submission to the Oscars (the film was not included in the final selection of nominees), Sira is an African heroine Panorama by Apolline Traoré won the Audience Prize at the 2023 Berlinale and was presented at TIFF last year. The quality of the performances of some of the actors leaves much to be desired at times and several script errors prevent me from fully subscribing to this proposition, although it is exceptional because it puts the women at the front of the stage, which is remarkable. Timbuktu By Abderrahmane Sissako, which appeared in 2014.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Sira is an African heroine takes the stage from 1^{There is} Screened across the county in February.