Saloum

A journey of vengeance through scenic waterways and hollow deserts, praising the well-deserved beauty of African continent. Unique trio of characters forming up the Bangui Hyaenas. A crisp performance by the cast showcasing maturity. Story manages to excellently build up the suspense until it all blows over. Satisfactory use of special effects. It's the birdbox's concept but with a twist, For this reason it may lack originality but the same was taken care of the final freedom of youngsters. When all technicalities are set aside what's most thought provoking is the mental trauma of a survivor and how the unlucky gets swallowed so the dinner table showdown is a hard critique to all negligences of children's care taking.

I understand that some felt the movie was a bit like Tarantino at the beginning ... but you can't really put this into a box. There is so much going on - not everything is working - or rather flowing like a river. To put a pun into this. There are a few things that may have gone over my head at the first time viewing, but I know that you can't watch this and have a black and white view on things (no pun intended with this one). There is a lot of grey area within the movie and the moral compass you may have, will freak out on you.

That said, there is violence and there is a twist that I did not expect to happen like that. But having said that, the special effects this uses for exactly that are not worse than any big budget movie (imho). And this was clearly made with a fraction of the money any Hollywood Blockbuster is using. This played at the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany and it fitted right in. Try to read as little as possible about this and enjoy the crazy and out there story that also is shot very beautifully - landscapes and framing wise. The latter even in a one-shot that is filled with action and works so smoothy you may not even notice there is not a single cut in it.

If you're open minded, go ahead and broaden your horizons ... in more sense than one.

I was intrigued at the start of this film as a group of men escape civil strife while transporting a Mexican drug dealer in a small plane which must make an emergency landing in a field. They bury a load of gold there and continue on to a remote village.

Nothing is as it seems at the village as ghosts from the leaders past return.

It then becomes a confusing mess as the group encounters some strange attacking creatures who look like swarms of bees who can be dispatched with either guns or knives. A new kind of zombie apocalypse, I guess.

The cast is much better than the script and story. The scenery is good but in the end I was not impressed.

Caught this as part of the 2022 Edinburgh International Film Festival - the programmers were keen to share it, describing it as part of a new wave of confident film-making coming out of Africa.

It plays quite nicely with some signifiers - at some point our main trio look like evil mercs who kill anyone for money, but other scenes show them in a totally different light - and while it is happy to indulge in some Tarantino-influenced action it is also unafraid to touch on darker elements like the vile use of child soldiers. Very stylish, cool - good late night movie, and took a few turns I wasn't expecting in the narrative.

Western parallels abound, but this African tale spins around, up and down, starting off as a thrill, then it goes through a mill, becomes a kind of homecoming, next a need to start running, as the locals start spinning, and the demons start swinging, there's a price to paid, to the lost and betrayed.

Several films for the price of one, encased in a multitude of genres, with some spectacularly good effects, exceptional performances, both mysterious and puzzling, brutal and violent, with plenty of opportunity to wonder what on earth is going on, and why. If you're not familiar with West African cinema, I'm not sure this will bring you any closer to it.