Brotherhood of the Wolf (5 Stars)

The film for this month's "Best of Cinema" screening was announced at very short notice. I wasn't made aware of it until 28th December, less than a week in advance. On that day the first six films were announced for 2024.

2024

• Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
• The Fifth Element (1997)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)
• The Doors (1991)
• Der Bewegte Mann (1994)

"The Brotherhood of the Wolf" is the only one of the six films I hadn't seen before. In fact, I'd never even heard of it. I've seen "The Fifth Element", and I even have it on DVD, but the last time I watched it was before I started my blog in September 2010.

At the cinema this evening one of my friends told me that his father has watched it ten times. How does he know the number of times so accurately? Does his father write a blog? This high praise made me expect something special. Yes, it really was special, although it confused me from the start. The director is deliberately breaking genre conventions. Any attempt to put a label on it is doomed to fail.

In 1764 a mysterious beast is terrorising an area in southern France. The beast only attacks women and children. It flees from men. The rare survivors tell tales that it's a giant monster with spikes on its back. King Louis XV sends the knight Fronsac to capture the beast. He's accompanied by an American Indian called Mani. The local nobles are irritated by his arrival, because they say they're able to capture the beast themselves. They capture a large wolf, which they claim is the beast, but shortly after Fronsac leaves the beast strikes again, so he returns to take action.

Mani is an unusual character. He's an American Indian, but his fighting style resembles Chinese martial arts. He can fight off any number of men who attack him. Fronsac has a similar fighting style, though he's not as adept. The film is also a love story, with Fronsac falling in love with Marianne, the daughter of a local count. Neither the count nor his son approve of Fronsac's advances.

The film overwhelmed me and intrigued me. It's a film that I regret not seeing years ago.

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