Brotherhood of the Wolf
The gifts have all been unwrapped, the food all eaten, and most if not all of the good movies have all been released in time for the Oscar race. Now, in the early days of 2002, we get the dregs. Welcome to the doldrums. Like an American relief plane dropping food behind the lines in Afghanistan, the studios think they’re coming to our rescue. Pilots drop macaroni and cheese which is believed by the people receiving it to be vomit. “Enjoy your nourishment!” Thanks…really.
Into this season of filmic filth comes Brotherhood of the Wolf, a ‘based-upon-actual-events’ pre-French Revolution period piece that tries way too hard to be all things to all audiences. Do you like scary movies? It’s got a bloodthirsty creature hunting women in the French countryside! Did you like Basic Instinct? Well then, we’ve got the gratuitous brothel scenes with plenty of topless prostitutes for you! How about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? We’ve got kung-fu fighting! Shakespeare in Love? It’s got filthy peasants and radiant bourgeoisie! How about JFK? Let us ram these conspiracies down your throat! It becomes tedious and tiresome as the filmmakers throw one genre after another into the melting pot.
The film begins at the beginning of the French Revolution as peasants prepare to storm the estate of Thomas d’Apcher (Jacques Perrin). His servants are scurrying about in fear, but Thomas sits at his writing table, taking down thoughts of long ago adventures he took part in. Since, he says, he is the last person known alive to have had a hand in these adventures, he is putting his thoughts on paper before he is executed by the guillotine.
Starring:
Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Cassel, Emilie Dequenne, Monica Bellucci, Jeremie Renier
Directed By:
Christophe Gans
Release Date:
January 11, 2002
MPAA Rating:
R for strong violence and gore, and sexuality/nudity.
Distributors:
Universal Focus
1.5 Stars
His writings tell the tale of Gregoire de Fronsac and Mani, men who hunted a terrifying wolf-beast with him when he was a young nobleman. Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) is a naturalist, botanist, libertine and world explorer. On one of his trips to the Americas he came across Mani (Mark Dacascos), an Indian that he became blood brothers with and in this film, form the Brotherhood of Asskickers. A the start of his tale with two peasants, one accused of witchcraft and the other thievery, being chased and beaten when Mani comes to the aide of the peasants and kung-fu’s their pursuers. How an American Indian at the beginning of the 19 century knows martial arts is extraneous to the plot; all that matters is that he knows it.
Fronsac and Mani have another purpose in this debacle: they are to help find the wolf-beast that has been hunting lone women and eating them. They receive help from a creepy nobleman (Vincent Cassel), his sister (Emilie Dequenne) and various others of the wealthy class. They consider the hunt sport, but as is revealed later, there is a deeper meaning to the wolf-creature that reaches beyond caste and wealth.
The official story, according to the bourgeoisie, is that the beast was slain, but d’Apcher purports to know the truth, and he writes of it at length; the ups and downs, the love life of Fronsac, the bigotry facing Mani, the weird obsessions of Vincent Cassel, prostitutes that practice witchcraft, dog fights, and so on and so forth.
Mixed into this are conspiracies concerning the Catholic church, the Knights Templar and anarchists versus monarchists along with heavy doses of gunplay, racism, fascism, incest and melodrama too. The performances are alright, with Samuel Le Bihan giving it the old college try as Fronsac. Mark Dacascos plays the stereotypical quiet, mystical Indian with a streak of bloodlust running through him. The goofiest comes from Monica Bellucci as the prostitute/medium that plays a part in the conspiracy too silly to mention other than to say that it must be witnessed to be believed.
You can probably tell that I didn’t really enjoy this film. It has a running time of just over 140 minutes, but seems to drag for days. There were several times, just like Steven Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, where the film could have ended and been better. Oliver Stone’s JFK also dealt with a multitude of conspiracy theories, but Stone at least attempted to make it all interesting to the audience with a protagonist that you cared about.
FYI — This film is not yet available on DVD or VHS. Not that you should care, though…