OUT NOW: Saloum

During the 2003 coup in Guinea-Bissau, a trio of mercenaries (Roger Sallah, Yann Gael, and Mentor Ba) rescue a drug dealer and a consignment of gold bullion.

When their getaway plane runs low on fuel, they make an emergency landing in Saloum, where they seek shelter at a local retreat.

While the others are suspicious of their environment, leader Chaka (Yann Gael) has other reasons for staying there...

I wish I watched this on the big screen and not on my laptop. 

Sans distractions, I would havre a more immersive experience. 

So do not be surprised if this one gets a second look if Saloum gets a big screen release in NZ.

A deft mix of genres, Saloum takes its time to reveal what is really going on, and the movie would still work without the supernatural elements.

I am not the biggest fan of supernatural horror - I can appreciate it but it does not work for me.

It speaks to Saloum's strengths that I was still engaged. 

The movie does not bother with exposition, letting information come out naturally as our protagonists go about their business amid the chaos of the coup.

The film establishes several potential catalysts for conflict - there is the gold itself; there is the knowledge that someone sabotaged their plane; there is the police man who joins them in Saloum; and finally a young Deaf woman (Evelyne Ily Juhen) who knows who they are...

So even while we are getting settled into the central location, there is an underlying sense 

of dread that is building throughout the movie.

We are given hints of Mentor Ba's spirituality and place in the group - he uses a sleeping spell at various points in the early scenes - but they are dealt with matter-of-factly.

For roughly the first half, the film feels like a crime movie - a couple of seemingly amoral characters out to make a buck, and willing to kill anyone who gets in their way.

Considering the film is 84 minutes long, it is a testament to director/co-writer Jean Luc Herbulot and his co-writer Pamela Diop that these characters are not stuck as these archetypes. 

As the action progresses, the film slowly reveals more about Chaka and his comrades, that builds them into more complex and fascinating characters. And mostly without dialogue.

Herbulot's direction gives the film a no-nonsense economy and pace, while juggling the film's various genre elements. 

Underneath its tough exterior, the film packs a weary empathy for its characters, and the wider world they inhabit. 

A lot of the characters of veterans of the continent's wars, and the exploitation of Western interests is always hanging in the background. 

There is probably more going on in terms of historical context that I have missed, but that sense of history is visible and digestible - it is a part of the text, and informs the supernatural antagonist that our anti-heroes have to confront.

Saloum is worth seeing, particularly on the big screen.