Film: Brotherhood Of The Wolf
Release date: 19th February 2007
Certificate: 15
Running time: 137 mins
Director: Christophe Gans
Starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Jeremie Renier, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci
Genre: Action/Horror/Mystery
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: France
Set in pre-revolutionary France, director Christophe Gans utilises the legendary tale of the Beast of Gévaudan to weave his multilayered and very loosely fact-based plot around.
Gregoire de Fronsac (Simon Le Bihan), artist, soldier and forward thinking man of science is dispatched to Gévaudan by his king in an attempt to accelerate the destruction of a murderous wolf-like beast that has been terrorizing his subjects. With the assistance of his Iroquois companion, Mani (Mark Dacascos), he swiftly concludes that rather than a demon set free from the depths of hell, due to the king’s favour of reason over religious teachings, he is in fact dealing with something manufactured, or at least influenced by man.
Shortly after arriving in the area, Fronsac meets the Morangias family and their circle of self-centred opinionated fair-weather friends. He immediately clashes mental swords with one armed adventurer, recently returned from Africa, Jean-François de Morangias (Vincent Cassel), while simultaneously falling for the charms of his younger sister Marianne (Emilie Dequenne).
As the first hour slowly progresses, going off at seemingly unrelated tangents, as Gans cleverly mimics Jaws by keeping the beast off camera, we are introduced via Fronsac’s investigation to more and more colourful characters. Femme fatale Sylvia (Monica Bellucci), clergyman Sardis and an epileptic mute girl, amongst others, become possible suspects, although, at this point, we are not quite sure what we are supposed to be suspecting them of.
The less is more approach of the first half, having served its purpose by building tension and offering clues, suddenly shifts up several gears as we cross over the hour mark to become an adrenaline fuelled fight fest that rarely slows down, yet still manages to pack emotional clout when it does pause briefly to come up for air…
Fronsac and Mani are joined by young idealistic nobleman Thomas d’Apcher as they set out on their journey to hunt the beast, a precursor to an almost Indiana Jones-style romp featuring numerous sprung traps and “close but no cigar” moments, with respect to the quarries capture. Following on from this, we have several exciting martial arts sequences, involving an array of brutal yet ingenious weaponry, before we take one final plot building breather - just before the exciting pay off scene. Gans, whether intentionally or not, may ape Steven Spielberg’s gift for tension building before rewarding the audience with exciting moments of peril, but it is when the action explodes across the screen that the directors veer off in different, yet equally effective, directions. Gans’ style is a hybrid of quirky European idiosyncrasies fused with Asian frenetic camera work, and speckled with well placed slow motion sequences thrown in for good measure.
The cinematography is simply stunning, from the mud-entrenched autumn slow-motion fight scene with individual droplets of rain mixed with blood, so vivid we can almost feel the spray, to the snowy winter search for lost children, and the lush forest wolf hunt where Gans utilises every vista to maximum effect.
Naturally, being a French film, we have the obligatory sex scene, but even then Gans shows his skill, allowing the camera to scan the length of Monica Bellucci’s naked body as she entertains her suitor, before seamlessly merging the curves of her thighs with the peaks and troughs of a scenic mountain region. While all the actors are well cast with Bellucci, her real life husband Cassel and Simon Le Bihan are particularly strong in their roles - and obviously relishing the opportunity to wear such elaborate costumes. However, it is the surprisingly good performance from Mark Dacascos that draws us in and demands our attention.
This is in a mainstream movie with artistic undertones. Placed in the skilful hands of Gans, it is in essence a piece of pure entertainment and something to enjoy time and time again. MG
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