Being Film #10 for Hooptober 2023
Let’s face it: for a streaming service Shudder has some of the best curation you can get. You might not think a film is horrific enough for a horror channel, but you’re always getting something interesting. I’ll take the latter any day, and Saloum is a great example of a film I never would have discovered otherwise. This Senegalese crime/western/horror/revenge thriller has style and story to spare, and it’s a great example of the treasures you can find by straying outside your typical borders of what you expect a “horror” film to be.
THE QUICK SUMMARY: The Hyenas are a trio of mercenaries who live by a code. They’re transporting a drug lord and his cache of gold from the military coup tearing apart Bissau, Guinea-Bissau over to Senegal. Escaping by plane, damage to the fuel tank forces them to land by a small resort village near the Saloum Delta in order to get the necessary repairs and fuel to continue. Chaka, the leader of the Hyenas has another reason for landing there, revenge for a hideous injustice from his past. Unfortunately exacting that justice comes at a terrible price, as the demons and ghosts of the Sine-Saloum rise up to claim what is rightfully theirs…
Saloum mixes a lot of genres, and to its benefit. It keeps you off your toes just enough so that when the supernatural elements come in, it’s a left turn you really don’t see coming. The first part feels like something Guy Ritchie would pull off, crazy camera shots, synchronized action, closeups of intense faces and weird symbols. Then it slows down and becomes much more of a Tarantino standoff in the best way. The scene of Chaka talking with Otto over dinner, and the gradual reveal of Otto’s crimes and Chaka’s history is fantastic, and all the credit to the incredible cast, particularly Yann Gael as Chaka, Roger Sallah as the hotheaded Rafa, and Mentor Ba as Papa Minuit, the calm elder who specializes in witchcraft. They bring a presence that makes you feel this is only the next (albeit final) chapter in a long series of adventures.
At the culmination of the preceding scene, Chaka does indeed get his revenge. But by doing he unwittingly opens a path for the legends of the area to become real, and soon it’s a fight for the Hyenas and the rest of the resort inhabitants to remain alive. And while this section section doesn’t quite hold the tension like the first half does, it doesn’t sacrifice the character work or the investment we have in our protagonists. Writer/director Jean Lucy Herbulot has been working steadily in a number of media projects since 2004, and he brings that varied sense of style to every shot without making Saloum feel a music video or video game cutscene. The design and use of the creatures is fresh and exciting without taking away from the story, and are used fairly judiciously – this isn’t an effects heavy movie, and it’s all the better for it.
I can’t think of another service that would have promoted or even offered a film like Saloum. This is another reason why I love participating in Hooptober every year: by sticking to the requirements you’re forced to expand your horizons when it comes to films. Saloum was a wonderful discovery for me, and makes me even more excited to see what new pleasures await as the marathon continues.
Cinema Dual 
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