TIFF Review: ‘Saloum’ Is a Macho Mash-Up of Magic and Murder
Drew Tinnin
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Jean Luc Herbulot’s unpredictable genre mashup is at its best when you’re not quite sure what direction it’s going to take next. Equally immersive as a procedural thriller and a daytime creature feature, both halves of Saloum are also at war with each other. In the film’s relatively short running time, a myriad of complex characters and scenarios are introduced, offering up a dizzying two-in-one experience that begs to be explored further. There’s a built in cat-and-mouse cool factor early on involving mercenaries, kingpins, and police that doesn’t quite mesh with the unbridled bedlam that follows.
Set during the Guinea-Bissau coup d’état of 2003, the electric opening highlights a trio of elite mercenaries tasked with rescuing a drug dealer (along with his bricks of gold and powder). The four men escape and take to the air only to realize that their plane has been sabotaged. Forced to land in the vast expanse of the Sine-Saloum Delta, they take refuge at a remote hotel in hopes of laying low while they plan their next move. Adept at blending in, a mysterious deaf woman secretly divulges their true identity using Sign language, unbeknownst to the other tourists. The tension starts to ramp up when a local police officer comes to stay, leading to a secret motive being revealed that threatens a fragile armistice between light and dark.
As the storied heroes known as Bangui’s Hyenas, Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah), and Minuit (Mentor Ba) are instantly likable and iconic in their own ways. As the group’s de facto leader, Chaka’s charm and intelligence is linked to deception and survival; Rafa’s brute strength masks his knowing gaze; and Minuit’s mound of white dreadlocks betray his age and wisdom as a fully militarized sorcerer. To their own detriment, their legends precede them.
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There’s an undeniable cool factor multiplied when all three appear on screen together. The things they’ve seen and done have become campfire tales. Apparently equipped to handle anything, once the unexpected turn card is shown at the mid-way point of the film, it’s clear they’ve never faced anything like this. The quick pace from then on almost undercuts the greatness of these characters and begs for a fully fleshed out series more in line with Herbulot’s cop show Sakho & Mangane on Netflix.
More than any Midnight Madness selection at TIFF this year, Saloum invites us on a journey, introducing a rich history of Bwiti spiritualism told in the romantic French-influenced Wolof language. For selfish reasons—and out of necessity—these characters have forgotten the myths of the past. When these two forces clash the results are muddy, mixing a war torn realism with mysticism and magic. Front loaded with intrigue at the start, the action-horror filled third act entertains on much more of a surface level. Combining a drug trafficking movie with the occult, Saloum offers up a reflection of French West Africa where the legends of today cross paths with the ancestors of the distant past.
Saloum screened at Toronto International Film Festival 2021.
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Saloum
Summary
Introducing us to three characters that could have easily been inspired by The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Saloum feels like a horror western set in West Africa.
