Asshak, Tales from the Sahara (2004)

Directed by: Ulrike Koch | 110 minutes | documentary | Starring: El Hadj Ibrahim Tshibrit, Azahra, Nohi Alutinine, Ahmed Kenam, Schilen Rabidin

In 1997 Ulrike Koch scored an unexpected art house hit with ‘Die Salzmänner von Tibet’. The documentary was about the journey of some traditional Tibetans to the salt lakes high in the mountains. The combination of beautiful landscape images, exotic rituals and a simple lifestyle went down well with the spiritually starved Europeans.

‘Asshak, Tales from the Sahara’, is the name of Koch’s new film. This documentary also deals with a culture that seems diametrically opposed to the Western state, that of the Tuareg, the inhabitants of the Central and Southern Sahara. An Islamic nation whose women make music, don’t have to wear a veil and seem to be calling the shots. And the men? Well, the men.

‘Asshak, Tales from the Sahara’ is a documentary whose story is mainly told through the images. We see an old woman during a tea ritual, a singing goatherd and a man who is looking for his camel. There are also beautiful landscapes, beautiful sunsets and lots of cute animal stuff. Sometimes they talk about respect, forgiveness, camels, even more respect, goats, veils. An old storyteller tells old stories while an elderly woman grumbles about untrustworthy men.

Anyone who observes these peaceful scenes without any previous knowledge must come to the conclusion that life in the Sahara is a good life. Harmony and tolerance as far as the eye can see. But those who delve more deeply into history will learn that this peacefulness is by no means a characteristic of the Tuareg; robberies and rebellion occurred regularly and have still not been eradicated. For those who wonder what the absent men do all day, it is instructive to know that the Tuareg are not only cattle farmers, but that they also form an important link in the people smuggling from Africa to Europe. They know the ways and still rule the desert. It is also not superfluous to know that the Tuareg are certainly not averse to tourism and that some tribesmen earn a nice living with it. In ‘Asshak, Tales from the Sahara’, however, none of that can be found. We only have to deal with the stragglers in the tents who lead an extremely peaceful, almost boring life.

What makes the documentary worth a visit are the particularly beautiful images and especially the musical interludes. Unusual sounds for a Western ear, Nomaden swing and Desert folk, accompanied by the one-stringed violin or by drumming and hand clapping. Swinging and melodic, with lyrics that are usually more captivating than the cringe-inducing clichés that the Tuareg themselves bring up. However, those beautiful images and sounds cannot prevent ‘Asshak, Tales from the Sahara’, from becoming an entertaining but completely meaningless documentary. An idealized and short-sighted view of the life of this nomadic people.