Saloum (2022)

Direction: Jean Luc Herbulot
Country: Senegal

Congolese director Jean Luc Herbulot teams up with producer Pamela Diop in the screenplay of Saloum, a biting crime thriller populated by African folklore and supernatural elements. The oppressive environment naturally lends an air of danger to a story that follows three mercenaries - Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah) and Minuit (Mentor Ba) - who are forced to land their plane on the mystic land of Saloum in Senegal. They transport an important Mexican trafficker on the run from Guinea-Bissau and a gold bounty. 

Posing as gold miners while looking for fuel and resin, this gang - the Bangui Hyenas - is in this region for a particular reason. A few threatening human presences on the site are considered minor when compared to the inhuman forces they will have to battle.

While Saloum may be a little frustrating in its upshot, you’ll be sufficiently intrigued to keep watching. The film paints an unusual, funny, and sometimes violent portrait of a certain contemporary Africa, providing a rough sketch of past traumas and a quest for revenge with a nod to the Western genre. There’s no particularly sympathetic character for us to root for, and yet the scenes are well acted, technically decent, and infused with a well-connected soundtrack. 

A mixture of solemnity and comedy colors the whole film, and there’s a neat and meticulous attempt at illustration despite the occasional wild camera movements. The bet was risky, but it paid off since the film fulfilled its primary mission: to agitate and entertain.

Atlantics (2019)

Direction: Mati Diop
Country: Senegal / France / Belgium

Set in a suburban coastal town of Dakar, Senegal, Atlantics is a downhearted love story turned into revenge ghost tale. Starring a fine cast of newcomers led by Name Bineta Sane, Ibrahim Traore and Amadou Mbow, the film marks the directorial debut of French-Senegalese actress Mati Diop (35 Shots of Rum; Simon Killer), who co-wrote the script with Olivier Demangel.

Souleiman (Traore) is an indebted young man who works long hours in construction. It’s been three months since he doesn’t get a paycheck. Desperate, Souleiman and his friends get into a small boat with the risky mission to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reach Spain. He does this in secrecy, without saying anything to his better half, Ada (Sane), who, despite madly in love with him, has an arranged wedding with the wealthy Omar (Babacar Sylla) scheduled within a few days. With no news from Souleiman, Ada is found impassive and disconsolate at her wedding party, a celebration marked by an inexplicable bizarre occurrence. The investigation of the mystery is entrusted to the rising young police inspector Issa Diop (Mbow), whose tenacity is disturbed by what looks like a virus.

With tranquil assertiveness, Ms. Diop sets a haunting, feverish atmosphere to immerse us in a story of life and death. The simplistic yet powerful plot emphasizes work exploitation and greediness, tragic relationships, immigration, cultural and religious traditions, and brings a very particular vision about things left unresolved in this world. Filmed with an astute sense of aesthetic and well acted, Atlantics is never scary in its phantasmagoria, but the message… the message is too strong to ignore. 

Félicité (2017)

Directed by Alain Gomis
Country: Senegal / France / other

“Félicité” rejoices with the vivid colors and the enthralling sounds of Africa, but also saddens us with the deep struggles of the local ordinary people, here represented by the title character (Véro Mputu), a single mother and a respected singer in Kinshasa, Congo. She manages to live a tranquil life until her 14-year-old son, Samo (Gaetan Claudia), has suffered a motorcycle accident that puts her on the verge of a breakdown. He needs an urgent and costly operation to save his smashed leg, but Félicité doesn't have how to pay for it. In a desperate situation, she puts away any embarrassment or pride and hits the road to get financial help. She first goes to her son’s resentful father, who violently accuses her of having created a thug, and then to the wealthiest man in town, who, after demeaning her, gives her a little money out of contempt. These scenes truly hurt, showing how inconsiderate and disdainful a human being can act before a vulnerable person.

Meanwhile, we learn that Félicité died at the age of two, suddenly awaking from the world of the dead when she was already in the coffin. Her name, meaning ‘our joy’, was given to her after that inscrutable occurrence. 

The only friend she can count on is Tabu (Papi Mpaka), a regular customer of the bar where she sings, who loves the nightlife and ends up repeatedly involved in quarrels. Despite nurturing deep feelings for her, he is not so reliable with regard to women, especially when wasted. A faulty person, for sure. Yet, observing the respect he has for her pain, we almost forget his vices.

French-Senegalese writer-director Alain Gomis packs the drama as a compound of vibrancy, intoxication, dejection, and anguish, resorting to sharp close-ups and likable imagery. However, some sloppiness was detected when dealing with the handheld camera. Some of the passages are particularly appealing, like those fragments of conversations in the bar with the topics varying from women to booze to children kills and spiritual life. There’s also some surrealism in the form of dreamy, enigmatic passages in a forest that are a fruit of the heroine's imagination. Its mysticism is meant to blur the line between the imaginary and the real.

Although orchestrated with powerful notes, “Félicité” shows some uneven parts, which make the narrative drag for certain periods of time. Still, it elaborates an honest portrait of an independent African woman who, even in the most intractable situations, keeps the life going with resilient obstinacy.

With the newcomer Véro Mputu onboard, Gomis didn’t restrain himself from sailing this boat with courage and emotion. By expeditiously capturing the moods of the city, he passes the idea of an undermined society within an undisciplined country. 

La Pirogue (2012)

Directed by: Moussa Touré
Country: Senegal / France / others

Movie Review: “La Pirogue” is a Senegalese drama that follows a group of African men who embark in the dangerous adventure of crossing the Atlantic in a fishing pirogue in order to reach Spain where they expect to find better life conditions. The pirogue will be handled by Baye Laye (Souleymane Seye Ndiaye in its debut), a Senegalese fisherman who is a truly connoisseur of the seas. Among the passengers there are Senegalese, a group of Guinean emigrants, one single woman, and a chicken. The perils of the trip could be felt, including some unlikeable surprises along the trip, dehydration, hunger, despair, and panic attacks. Frequent close-ups demonstrate the sadness mirrored in travellers’ faces, while joyful moments were very scarce. With a well-handled cinematography by Thomas Letellier, the film makes a curious introduction to its origin country through colorful scenes of African daily life, rituals, and rhythms, after definitely take off to the anguishing isolation of the ocean. The film was directed by Moussa Touré who counts with three feature-films and one documentary in a career that started in 1991. His 1998 comedy “TGV” got international recognition. Visually strong, “La Pirogue” wasn’t so original in concept but honestly conveys a tough reality, unfortunately more and more common nowadays. A questionable aspect here was the soundtrack, which sometimes gave the sensation of appeasement when tension was more appropriate to the situation. Not a big issue to discourage me from recommending it.