Brotherhood of the Wolf, 2001.
Directed by Christophe Gans.
Starring Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, Émilie Dequenne, Mark Dacascos, Jérémie Renier, and Jacques Perrin.
SYNOPSIS:
In 18th century rural France, a royal knight and his Native American companion are called in to investigate several murders allegedly committed by some sort of supernatural beast.
The werewolf movie has seemingly gone the way of the shark movie in recent times, retelling similar stories over and over, and relying on cheap CGI for its effects, and for many the genre has never really gotten past the double-whammy of An American Werewolf in London and The Howling way back in 1981 as the bar against all others shall be measured.
However, there have been some notable lycanthropic tales between then and now, such as Neil Jordan’s haunting The Company of Wolves, the fun Jack Nicholson romp Wolf and the sleazy genius of Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (honestly, go treat yourself), but putting 2014s excellent Late Phases to one side, the 21st century has been relatively void of anything approaching the quality of the previous two decades when it comes to werewolves and their like. That is, apart from 2001s French epic Brotherhood of the Wolf, which has now been given a 4K UHD makeover courtesy of StudioCanal, and what a sparkling example of physical media superiority it is.
Set in revolutionary France during the 18th century, the movie opens with Thomas d’Apcher (Jacques Perrin), about to be taken to be executed and recounting the events of decades past, when royal naturalist Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Native American companion Mani (Mark Dacascos) were sent by the King to investigate a series of killings in the rural county of Gévaudan. After being greeted by Thomas (now played by Jérémie Renier) they are introduced to the local dignitaries and high society families, where Fronsac falls in love with Count’s daughter Marianne de Morangias (Émilie Dequenne), although her brother Jean-François (Vincent Cassel), a well-travelled hunter who apparently lost the use of an arm fighting the great beasts of Africa, is suspicious of the new arrivals.
Fronsac’s investigations lead him the local brothel, where he is intrigued by the mysterious Sylvia (Monica Bellucci), who may or may not hold some sort of clue about what is going on, as more locals fall foul to what appears to be some sort of wolf-like creature, with huge jaws twice the size of a normal wolf. Fronsac discovers that whatever the creature is, it has metal fangs and may not be the folklore-ish monster that the locals fear but something less supernatural, which points him in the direction of the local gentry.
All of which is the basic plot but there are a few more things going on that flesh the whole thing out, such as the love story between Fonsac and Marianne, Mani’s backstory and the fact that he can fight like Bruce Lee (and frequently has to) which is something that probably wasn’t that familiar to 18th century French peasants, and just where does Sylvia fit into all this? After all, she isn’t just there as a beautiful woman who strips off and sleeps with Fonsac, which gives him nightmares where she is some sort of demon witch and it all goes a bit Lord of the Rings (although if that is all she was there for then that would be perfectly fine).
You see, Brotherhood of the Wolf is not just a two-and-a-half-hour stony-faced period piece but instead it is a genre mash-up of such entertainment value that you cannot help but be carried along as director Christophe Gans throws pretty much everything at the screen, with most of it sticking, for not only is this a horror movie but there is a lot of action – from the aforementioned Mark Dacascos playing the mysterious Iroquois Mani, who enjoys a full-on kung-fu punch-up with the locals every few minutes, itself leading into a bit of social commentary as the unworldly locals all think him a sorcerer due to his Native American healing methods and so-called witchcraft – and shoot-outs, plus a romance story that leads to a very dark place, a political thriller-style cover-up of events that shows how far we haven’t moved on as a society and even some dashes of dark humour; it’s all in there, and shot with such artistic flair – where else could you see Monica Bellucci’s naked breasts morph into two mountain peaks? – that, upon reflection, it seems a little out of place when you consider what else was going on within the genre back in 2001.
Despite how absurd it gets, Brotherhood of the Wolf is a stunning movie that holds up remarkably well over two decades since its original release. The 4K restoration of the Director’s Cut looks amazing, with the greens of the forest and the glowing orange of the peasants’ torches popping out from the screen like never before, and the clarity of the picture shows off detail in the costumes and sets that adds an extra level of authenticity. For comparison, the unrestored Theatrical Cut is included on the accompanying Blu-ray disc, and to be honest, the film doesn’t look too shabby in that version either, albeit a little too bright, but the UHD colour grading and more dynamic contrasts make the Director’s Cut the better version to watch.
Overall, this release of Brotherhood of the Wolf is as definitive as it is likely to get for a movie that always looked great but now looks amazing. As a movie it is a little long but Christophe Gans directs the hell out of it, filling every space with a gorgeous visual and never letting the plot slow down, and although there are one or two effects shots that are very much stuck in the early 2000s, they are very fleeting and not enough to take you out of the action. Dog Soldiers may get the plaudits as the popular (relatively) modern werewolf movie, but Brotherhood of the Wolf is a better made, better looking and more exciting film, and the best movie of its kind this side of the millennium.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
