TIFF 2021: Saloum Review
Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah), and Minuit (Mentor Ba) are a legendary mercenary group called Bangui’s Hyenas. They are tasked with helping a Mexican cartel member (Renaud Farah) escape from Guinea-Bissau to the city of Dakar in Senegal after the architects of a recent coup decide to purge international drug dealers from the country. The mercenaries and the cartel member escape in a plane under a hail of bullets but have to make an emergency landing short of Dakar because of damage to the plane. They arrive at the Baobab Camp in the Saloum Delta where everything is not as it seems. What follows is an exploration of the destructive cycle of greed, cruelty, trauma, and revenge.
What has just been described sounds like a straightforward thriller. Saloum (2021) is anything but straightforward. Director Jean Luc Herbulot gleefully mashes up various genres and influences to make something that is dizzying but never boring. Thriller, horror and action are the main ingredients in the pot but there are many other smaller influences that give the film its distinct flavour.
Saloum is anchored by the bond between its three main characters. Chaka is the brains of the operation, Rafa is the muscle and Minuit is…the sorcerer. Each character is portrayed with a kind of easy charisma that draws viewers into their relationship and also their individual backstories. It is Chaka’s backstory that the viewer comes to know the most. He is the one that suggests that the group go to the Baobab Camp and it is obvious right away that he has strong ties to the place. He is all sly grins and snappy quips on the surface but he is clearly haunted by something.
It turns out that the camp is also haunted by something. This is when the horror elements of the film come into to full effect. Vengeful spirits, broken pacts, zombies covered in swarms of flies, at about the halfway point the film takes a TURN. The viewer is supposed to make sense of the change via a large and clumsy exposition dump. Once that is out of the way the viewer is subjected to one of the best depictions of trauma in recent memory.
“We say revenge is like a river, whose bottom is reached only when we drown” says a narrator at the beginning of the film. The methods used to show how someone can be swept up by revenge are very effective. Yann Gael’s performance captures Chaka’s anger and pain in a mixture that is heartbreaking. There are flashbacks to Chaka’s past that are as harrowing as they can be. Even the way that the vengeful spirits take over and destroy the human body excellently exemplify how revenge can overpower a person.
Typical revenge films show a person going out of their way to take revenge when they could make the choice to walk away. For Saloum it is not as simple as making a choice even if it may seem that way at first (remember it is Chaka who suggests that the group goes to the Baobab Camp). When you swim in a river it can be hard to swim against the current. The film alludes to the various regional conflicts of the Sine-Saloum region in Senegal. Conflicts like these drag people into them whether they choose to participate or not. Saloum smartly depicts revenge as part of a cycle that is tied to a region in addition to it being a choice that people make.
Despite being fixed to a specific region, Saloum is packed with little details and quirks that western audiences tend to love. Rafa dyes his beard blonde and wears Versace shoes to mercenary jobs. Chaka is seen walking around in a poncho with a six-shooter in hand at one point. Minuit takes people out by blowing a mysterious powder in their face. At times it feels like the film tries to do too much at once but what is on offer is a slick and thrilling ride.