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It's 2003, and mercenaries Chaka (Yann Gael), Rafa (Roger Sallah) and
Minuit (Mentor Ba) have just successfully staged a coup in Guinea-Bissau -
and stolen a shitload of gold in the process - and managed to flee the
country in the aftermath with their employer Felix (Renaud Farah), when
their plane suddenly loses fuel and forces them to land in the middle of
nowhere - and of course it was sabotage that brought them down. The four
of them manage to make it to a small community, Saloum, where they are
greeted with open arms by village leader Omar (Bruno Henry), who is happy
to help them out with rooms if only they're up for doing chores. Sounds
next to perfect - apart from the fact that one of Omar's other boarders,
deaf-mute Awa (Evelyne Ily Juhen), knows who they are, and lets them know
via sign language, which the three mercenaries just happen to
"speak". And with her knowledge she wants to force them to take
her with them. And the other issue, yet another of Omar's guests is
actually chief of police Souleymane (Ndiaga Mbow) who's after them and has
laid them a trap already. But before any of these can become a problem,
Chaka shoots dead Omar, as back in the day Omar was far from the benign
village leader but a recruiter of child soldiers he got high on crack to
send to various battlefields. And it was actually Chaka himself who
sabotaged the plane so they had to emergency-land near Saloum. Thing is,
things go downhill after Omar's death, not so much because he was so loved
but because he was the gatekeeper between this world and a demonic realm,
and soon enough demons are loose to kill the living in Saloum. Only those
who can't hear are safe, so ear muffs are an obvious solution - only the
demons are damned good at ripping those off, then getting into one's mind
to drive one mad ... A really cool piece of genre cinema -
inasmuch as it doesn't stick to one particular genre but mixes pieces of
war movie, revenge cinema, western and folk horror to a very dynamic film
where the diverse influences work in tandem with one another rather than
stand in each other's way, and where surprise genre shifts just make the
film more exciting. And a decently paced directorial effort that does make
great use of the film's impressive locations, and a grounded enough cast
for a story as out there as this one help make this just great
entertainment.
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