BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF

8/10

Le Pacte des Loups : France 2001
director : Christophe Gans
script : Gans, Stephane Cabel (story and dialogue: Cabel)
cinematography : Dan Laustsen
editing : David Wu, Sebastien Prangere
music : Joseph Lo Duca
lead actors : Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Mark Dacascos, Emilie Dequenne
143 minutes

Tim Burton, eat your heart out – Brotherhood of the Wolf is everything Sleepy Hollow wanted to be but somehow wasn’t: a thunderously entertaining, powerfully atmospheric thriller with blood-spattered supernatural overtones. Even the plots are similar: in the late 18^th century, scientist De Fronsac (Bihan) arrives in a remote rural backwater to investigate a series of bloody murders. Local superstition blames a mysterious, rarely-glimpsed beast, but the hyper-rational De Fronsac suspects a more earthly explanation. As he sets about nailing his prey, aided by acrobatic Native American warrior Mani (Dacascos), he’s distracted by the charms of a comely aristocrat (Dequenne, Cannes prizewinner for Rosetta) - much to the chagrin of her snooty, one-armed brother (Cassel)…

Brotherhood of the Wolf  is one of the most expensive French productions ever, and every centime is up there on the screen: director Gans fuses the kick-ass combat of Crouching Tiger, the damp poetic landscapes of Mann’s Last of the Mohicans, the dangerous-fairytale ambience of Company of Wolves and the costumed intrigues of Dangerous Liaisons. Older viewers may be reminded of a Hammer flop from the mid-70s, Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, which strained towards a very similar blend of comic-book action and horror-tinged suspense – Kronos star Horst Janson even looks like Brotherhood’s blond, genial Le Bihan.But Brotherhood (at least) matches all of its predecessors: Gans has a real flair with his prowling camera, and each of the beast’s attacks is a directorial tour de force, gradually unveiling more and more of this remarkable monster.

While Sleepy Hollow was really no more than an elaborate ‘boo,’ Brotherhood has much wider ambitions – political, social, historical, anthropological – and it pretty much fulfils them all, providing a far-fetched but scarily plausible explanation for one of France’s darkest historical enigmas. It’s the same myth that inspired Walerian Borowczyk’s recently-reissued art-porn classic of the mid-70s, The Beast, though Gans’ testosterone-charged approach is much more accessible to general audiences. Not that many people will get the chance to find out: Brotherhood arrives with much less fanfare than its cutesy compatriot, Amelie. And that’s a real dommage – just because this is one of the year’s most enjoyable movies, that doesn’t mean it isn’t also one of the very best.

11th October, 2001
(seen Oct-7-01, UGC Parrs Wood, Manchester)

by Neil Young

-