Djibouti has a strategic location, an excellent deep water port on the Red Sea, and a relatively poor population. Much of the nation’s land is salt flats.
When I last took a look at Djibouti, it was in the form of a mystery adventure set at the port. This time, the story is different.
Beau Travail
But this movie is really an excuse to film a lot of attractive men exercising. There are strong gay undercurrents to the cinematography but no actual gay sex. The central conflict in the story is very much a love triangle, but it is portrayed through the tension that the characters have when they are near each other. They do not touch, and they do not talk much. And yet, the outcome is violence.
The salt flats are forbidding. The desert scenery is gorgeous and yet also painful to look at. This is a nation that has to import about 80% of its food and has little infrastructure outside of the port.
And yet, the Legionaires find time to iron their uniforms. There is not infrastructure, but they are committed to discipline and elegance as befits representatives of the French government.
