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Brotherhood of the Wolf - 12/20/02 - R - 168m
French Title: Pacte des loups, Le
Samuel Le Bihan
- Grégoire de Fronsac
Mark Dacascos - Mani
Émilie Dequenne - Marianne de Morangias
Director: Christophe Gans
JEF
DVD Review -
Originally I was one of the lucky few that got to see this movie
in the theatre. It is a French film with English subtitles, and never
really saw the mega-plex theatres. So I think many people overlooked this
movie when it came out.
I had the chance to see this movie the other night on DVD. It originally
came out in Jan of 2002; so almost a year later I sat down to watch it
again. I still liked this movie.
Storyline: Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan)
and his assistant Mani (Mark Dacascos) are traveling the countryside on
a mission from the king to find a supposed “beast” that has
been terrorizing a small town Gevaudan province, in France. Fronsac is
officially the king’s taxidermist, and naturalist. He’s sent
to this small town to study the killings and hopefully to slay the beast,
and bring it back stuffed. The Beast is a tricky one. It has eluded many
of the townsfolk who have set their traps all over, and had hunts, and
even a regiment of the Kings army had been sent to kill the beast. But
it always seems one step ahead of them. This beast is given some supernatural
characteristics because of the mystery behind its ability to not get caught.
Some who had seen the beast describe it as wolf like, but with strange
features, like spikes’ coming off it’s back, and huge gaping
maul, and an overall size that seems like a massive wolf. The town politicians
seem to just think these are just exaggerations, and think it’s
just a plain old wolf.
The movie opens with an awesome fight sequence. Fronsac, and Mani are
arriving to the town, during a downpour and happen upon a group of men
chasing an elderly man, and his daughter. Well, Mani steps in, and defends
the man and daughter from the thugs, and fantastic fight. I would put
this scene as one of the best overall fight scenes in a movie. But the
story continues… Fronsac and Mani start to doubt the claims that
this animal is a wolf. And suspect foul play as some have said that they
saw a man with the beast. And strange facts like the beast only kill women
and children. They are led on quite the mystery to solve these killings.
The movie has many twists and turns, from secret society such as the “Templars”,
to political corruptness, to the love interest of Fronsac and Marianne
(Émilie Dequenne). Mani’s character is very interesting too,
as he plays a Native American Indian who has somewhat supernatural powers.
The visuals of this movie are incredible. Some of the cinematography is
breathtaking. There is one scene in particular which was amazing to see
on the big screen. A small girl eludes the beast in a snowstorm, and is
shown to us as a sort of dream sequence. The countryside is treated with
both beauty and also dirt and grime. For example the countryside shots
of Fronsac and Marianne are filmed in a wonderful forest setting, and
then we’re shown the mud and swamp areas where a young girl’s
body was found that was a victim of the beast.
Now, there are some things that you’ll either love or hate about
this movie. The fighting scenes are done in a sort of Matrix meets Kung-fu
style with a heavy use of slow-motion effects. This will either look “cheesy”
to you, or you’ll like it. Mani tends to fight in the Asian style
martial arts. It’s a little hard to picture a Native American Indian
using Japanese Stick Fighting, but with the apparent world travels of
Fronsac and Mani, there’s no reason why not. Another downside is
that the movie is subtitled. Which draws the viewer’s eye away from
the screen and action to read. In most subtitled movies this isn’t
really a problem, but with this movie with all the stunning visuals it
detracts from the experience. And finally, the story gets a bit tricky.
Some elements are transparent, and you saw it coming a mile away, while
other elements surprise you. The political exploits are hard to follow
too.
One other plus element I must point out is the wardrobe. These costumes
are incredible. Some the traditional French styles of the time, and others
an artistic expression (like the high necked leather trench coats worn).
My advice is to watch this movie in French, with the English subtitles
on. I tried to watch it with the English voices dubbed in, but found the
voices distracting from the lip sync. And the Acting is much better when
heard in French. The Voice actors were somewhat hokey.
One final comment on the DVD bonus material. The inclusion of the deleted
scenes with commentary by the director was what all DVD’s should
have. The director went on in some detail to explain why these shots were
cut, and his thinking behind them. A little wordy, but if you like this
movie, it gives you the insights into the directors mind. Many DVD’s
just include deleted scenes with no explanations. This was a plus.
Go rent this DVD.
Jef