Bamako is the capital city of Mali, where a political trail is taking place. In the dock are the World Bank and the IMF. Director Abderrahmane Sissako, filming in his own backyard, allows his witnesses free rein and their dispositions are both impassioned and articulate: the now disgraced Paul Wolfowitz and the Gleneagles agreement ("It has done more for Great Britain's image than to help Africa," one witness claims) get it in the neck.

If this all sounds dry, didactic and worthy, Sissako blends it with village life going on all around, a marriage breaking up, a man dying and a village goat which very nearly butts a lawyer in the arse - the defence and prosecution are the only two white men in the film. He also includes a short mock western, Death to Timbuktu, with himself and producer Danny Glover among the cowboys: a bunch of irresponsible westerners like - gulp! - us.

It's an audacious and strange idea, but hammers home its point: Africa is rich in resources but brought to its knees by corruption and by debt repayments which take a huge proportion of its countries' GNP. These are well-known truths in these days of "Make Poverty History" bracelets, but hearing it from those on the receiving end amid colourful African life is a new experience. It's part of the economic imbalance that films about Africa have been plentiful (The Last King of Scotland, Catch a Fire and Blood Diamonds are three recent DVDs) but always filtered through western experience and the eyes of whites. TV is rare in Africa and Mali is estimated to have three cinemas, so its target audience is largely going to miss it. But you don't have to.