A potent concoction of genres, Jean Luc Herbulot’s rule-bending film starts with a bang. In the first five minutes, we are plunged into a world of beauty and disorder. A young boy waddles into a mysterious river lit by both a sun and a moon; the scene quickly shifts to a rifle-toting gang of mercenaries charging towards a village hideout, a trail of dead bodies in their wake. Ostensibly set during the 2003 coup d’état in Guinea-Bissau, the opening suggests a more metaphysical leap, a realm where the supernatural and the criminal coexist.
In fact, the gangster elements are satisfyingly gritty. Known as Bangui’s Hyenas, the mercenaries extract a drug dealer and his gold bullion from the rural chaos and make their escape on a plane. The whole endeavour is gorgeously choreographed with precise, dynamic camera movements; the adrenaline rush is cut short when the plane is shot down, leaving its passengers stranded near the Saloum Delta in Senegal. Here they encounter the suspiciously friendly Omar (Bruno Henry), who offers the men free accommodation in exchange for help with the eroding land. As folklore entwines with reality and secrets from the past emerge, it soon becomes clear that their arrival in Saloum is no coincidence, and demonic forces are closing in.
With his intense gaze and charismatic swagger, Yann Gael gives a star-making turn as Chaka, the tormented leader of Bangui’s Hyenas. Since the crisp running time occasionally falters under the weight of culturally specific references, Saloum demands close attention; it certainly earns it too. Keen eyes might notice how the film is billed as a “southern” in the opening credits. Sure enough, Saloum does not stop at simply reinterpreting the tropes of the western but wholly retools its influences with local flavours.
• Saloum is available on 8 September on Shudder.
