“Saloum” (2021) is a Senegalese action horror film set soon after 2003 coup in Guinea-Bissau. Bangui’s Hyenas, a trio consisting of red-gloved leader, bespeckled Chaka (Yann Gael), grey haired dreaded, sleek mystic Minuit (translated from French to English as Midnight) (Mentor Ba) and orange bearded, hedonist Rafa (Roger Sallah) are called mercenaries, but some view them as heroic vigilantes or wanted outlaws. When a mission goes south, they make a detour to Chaka’s hometown to get supplies so they can resume their rescue of a drug dealer. While staying at an isolated and unusual resort, the Baobab Camp, Chaka’s reunion with a familiar face unearths an ancient curse that endangers all the guests, including the trio.
At eighty-three minutes, this unpredictable, action-packed, fast-paced, stylish film never rests. The dialogue jumps languages, both verbal and sign. The setting speeds through different countries then when it rests in one location, it divides them further according to function. James Bond would have a hard time keeping up with this trio. Congolese writer/director Jean Luc Herbulot provides intertitles to help us keep track of the location, characters names and aliases and situation. There are a lot of exposition dumps to orient viewers when everything goes crazy. The characters strike a balance between taking the offense against and being under siege from the supernatural. The film toggles between the present and the oneiric trauma filled past of one of the trio, which is the motivating undercurrent for the entire situation.
While the film’s pace is rapid and the look is chaos cinema with a Guy Ritchie sensibility, “Saloum” cannot be dismissed as superficial or imitation. There is a mournful tenderness underlying the film’s macho veneer. There is a policeman, who is uncorrupt and registers repulsion when he uncovers a local crime that has been unfolding under his nose for awhile. There are images of men embracing in solidarity and comfort.
The horror in “Saloum” is a metaphor for an ongoing cursed land, a single madman dominating generations, either in the past or present, possibly both the same, over a region thus cursing the land and exploiting its people, particularly their children, to a life of enslavement or death. It is simultaneously literal, evil generals with child soldiers, and metaphorical, spirits destroying the living. The realistic part of the story is more horrific than the supernatural. The supernatural aspects highlight the emotional consequences of trauma and facing evil. The ramifications do not stop by just killing the leader.
Because I am unfamiliar with the folklore inspiring the horror elements in “Saloum,” I found it helpful to think of that region as if it was Dracula dominating Transylvania in fiction. All the villagers act strangely. There is even a servile Renfield figure. The single lavish seat of power actually contains a monster. Except this curse involves spirits that resemble the smoke monster from “Lost” and sounds like a bunch of angry bees. When the spirits move in formation, they resemble a school of fish or flock of birds. When they possess someone to take physical action, they resemble the figure in a photograph called “Animist mask, Burkina Faso.” I will not delve any further, but because possession in this film does not resemble American popular culture images, even “Supernatural,” this distinction is helpful. It is unclear what the end game was for the evil side, what they hoped to gain, other than death. It felt like a dangling thread, and it was not the only one.
“Saloum” is a revenge movie. Trying to survive this phenomenon is an act of defiance against an evil leader. The rebellion is intentional for one of the guests. Because the music and fighting are so upbeat, a viewer may not feel as if it is a bleak film, but it is. While it may be possible to lift the curse from a land, not only does the bad guy suffer, but everyone, including the bad guy’s victims, pays a price. The choice to fight leads to more innocent victims who never got a choice to participate in this fight. While the curse gets lifted, the price feels as if the bad guy did win. What does it say about being able to escape? Nothing good. For me, if the movie has a fatal flaw, it is that the bad guy wins, but the curse is also lifted. I cannot reconcile this dissonance.
“Saloum” deals with some difficult subject matter: slavery and rape. There is plenty of violence, but no onscreen sexual violence though discussed. A constant implied threat of rape should have been deleted so viewers could focus on the actual one.
Not every movie is made for everyone. I wondered if people familiar with the region, its history and legends would find it easier to keep up with the constant introduction of characters and rules of this universe’s mythology and establishing a distinction between historical events and fictional. I wanted it to slow down enough to get more invested in the characters and the situation. Some rules seemed to get dropped to increase the body count such as safety inside the dwellings. Because I was not certain whether the trio were friends first and business associates second or true mercenaries who would turn on each other, I was unable to simultaneously take in the unusual surroundings and cast of characters. Instead I found myself taking notes, doing quick Google and Wikipedia searches to find my footing, which theatergoers will not be able to do unless they are willing to flout the rules of not using your cell in a dark theater. Afterwards I was only slightly enlightened, and it seemed as if the horror elements sensationalized the mystical past of that region since the Bainuks are still around. I could not just run with it so less academic viewers will not rain on the movie’s parade.
While “Saloum” was visually gorgeous, I was not into it because I never felt like I got the story on a visceral level though I was theoretically empathetic. The genre mashup did not work for me because the horror portion seemed unnecessary or the supernatural story needed further tie-ins with reality. Making it daytime horror was fine, but it seemed like a technical effects choice, not intrinsic to the story. Why was there a narrator, and why was she a woman? Her narration was relevant, but she is not a character in the film, just an offscreen storyteller to make sure that we understood the ending, but again, it did not work for me.
The acting was phenomenal. Gael makes a great, hot, dangerous nerd, the logistician. I would have watched an entire movie about Minuit alone. Evelyne Ily Juhen was a terrific mixture of toughness and gentleness. I’m annoyed that they dropped a detail about her character then never followed up. It was a relief that she did not end up a victim, an enemy or a love interest, but a physical asset and complex comforter. Black women in films either get demonized or idealized, and she is just a person. The bonus was the representation of people with are deaf-mute. I have no idea if Juhen is or if people from that community will applaud her performance, but I was sold.
“Saloum” has such great characters and looks so cool that I am disappointed that the story felt like a rushed afterthought. Maybe I am an ignorant American and am open to correction that the mythology actually was cohesive.
