Timbuktu

Armed members of Ansar Dine pursue a gazelle across the sandy desert in a jeep, establishing their patrol-driven authority over the landscape. The hunt underscores their intrusion into daily life and foreshadows the stronger control that will follow. The scene sets a tense mood for the militants' encroachment on the region.

The militants turn their attention to intricately carved Bambara wooden sculptures, criticizing depictions of bare-breasted women as un-Islamic. They confiscate and threaten cultural artifacts as part of enforcing their rigid creed. The act signals a erasure of local heritage in the name of religious purity.

Upon reaching Timbuktu, the jihadists impose strict clothing rules and ban television, radio, football, alcohol, music, and loitering. They deploy patrols to enforce the new order, turning public spaces into sites of surveillance and control. The city shifts from a tolerant hub to a place under rigid regulatory rule.

In a local mosque, the Imam diplomatically rebukes the militants for entering with shoes, yet he dismisses their edicts as outside their spiritual jurisdiction. The exchange highlights the limits of militant authority within religious spaces. It also underscores the tension between imposed law and established local customs.

Beyond Timbuktu, a Tuareg family—Kidane, Satima, Toya, and adopted son Issan—lives in a nomad tent and subsists on livestock. Their prized cow GPS is pregnant, and Kidane plans to gift the calf to Issan, hoping to secure the family’s future. The scene establishes their fragile, everyday life under looming danger.

A water seller transports water from the river to tent-dwelling families on a motorcycle, illustrating one of the vital lifelines under siege. Issan tends the cows by the river while Amadou, a fisherman, uses nets that will later intersect with the family’s world. The river remains a central, precarious source of sustenance.

The jihadists tighten their grip by releasing propaganda videos, patrolling for music lovers, and debating football with zeal. The youth are forced to improvise, playing ball-less football while the militants confiscate the ball. The suppression of cultural activities underscores the regime's reach into daily life.

A jihadist driver visits Satima at the tent in Kidane's absence and offers his number, signaling an invasive reach into personal life. Satima rejects the intrusion, but the moment reveals how deeply the militants probe ordinary relationships. The encounter foreshadows broader encroachments on the family's safety.

During a grazing trip, GPS becomes entangled in Amadou's nets, triggering a deadly confrontation. Enraged, Amadou fatally spears the cow, plunging the family into shock and grief. Issan runs back to the tent crying, bringing Kidane the grim news.

Kidane confronts Amadou in a violent struggle and fatally shoots him in defense of his livestock and family. Soon after, Kidane is apprehended by a patrol and jailed on murder charges. The incident sets the family on a path toward a legal ordeal under the militants’ regime.

Kidane’s murder trial proceeds in Arabic and requires translation for him to understand the proceedings. He appeals to the judge by describing his daughter Toya’s plight, hoping shared language or ethnicity might elicit sympathy. The translator, a Libyan-linked Tuareg himself, remains emotionally detached throughout.

While Kidane is tried, musicians and a singer are arrested and flogged, a couple is stoned for alleged romance, and a girl found with a cellphone is forcibly married against her will. The Imam’s pleas go unheeded as the regime enforces harsh penalties. The community witnesses a cascade of brutal enforcement of the militants' laws.

Just before Kidane's execution, the water seller brings Satima to the execution site, and the family reunites briefly in a hopeful moment. They rush toward each other, but fate intervenes as they are fatally shot. The moment marks a devastating culmination of the militants' crackdown on family life.

The water seller escapes into the desert as Toya and Issan are left wandering, grief-stricken by the day’s losses. The children are left to navigate a world that has abruptly upended their lives. The film closes on their fragile, uncertain future.