Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

          Brotherhood of the Wolf           

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  Director Christophe Gans‘s luminously filmed horror tale — based on an 18th century French legend about a protean wolflike beast — has some bite to it. The beast’s bloodlust (it likes to devour villagers) sets the stage for a battle royal between it and naturalist Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and his Mohawk Indian companion, Mani (Mark Dacascos) — two adventurers dispatched by King Louis to vanquish the terror.

REVIEW:  I was expecting a werewolf movie, but was far from disappointed when it was not. The title of this movie is very apropos. The creature, a wolf of some type, contrived by man or created by magic, is protected by a brotherhood of men. An old man is the head caretaker of the beast. Our two heroes, Gregoire de Fronsac and his Indian friend Mani, are commissioned by the King to rid the French countryside of this beastly terror that is killing the dwellers in the vicinity. What befalls them on this expedition creates a capital movie.

When our adventurers begin to get close to resolving the issue they are called off and told to forget about their quest. This is extremely suspicious and leads the viewer to question why. You begin to get a feeling of an undercurrent by the French Governing Hierarchy. I can’t go further along this line without giving away plot lines. At this point the plot takes on a new and even more horrible slant.

This all leads to a great deal of action and bloodletting. The movie starts out slowly after the initial killing of a woman in the opening scenes, but does not take long to pick up momentum. The version I watched was dubbed in English and very enjoyable. It also had subtitles if you desired them. The performances of all the actors were excellent but could not be matched by the superior acting of the two main characters. Some of the landscapes were lush and spectacular. Those taken of the woods were primo-licious. There is a considerable amount of violence displayed and sexual nudity abounds. If it is true that this story is based on fact then it is a phenomenal retelling of the story. This is the stuff that legends are made of.

4 Stars
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