Brotherhood Of The Wolf

Mani For Your Thoughts

Brotherhood Of The Wolf
aka Le pacte des loups
France 2001
Directed by Christophe Gans
Studio Canal Blu Ray Zone B

Warning: If you’ve not seen this one before, it contains spoilers. So if you’re not familiar with it, I would advise you don’t read this at all and go acquaint yourself with this amazing movie instead.

It’s been a long time since I last saw Brotherhood Of The Wolf and got reminded just how great a director Christophe Gans is. I first saw the movie back in 2001 at... I think a few places but I’m pretty sure one of those was the cinema known today as the Curzon Soho (I don’t remember if it was called that back then). I absolutely raved about how good it was then and I can’t believe that, to this day, it’s still not that well known a film over here in the UK (although I’m sure it did pretty good business for a French movie in the US at the time and certainly brought Gans some attention). And the cut at the cinema back then was significantly shorter. I remember I had to track down a North American release on DVD (I think it was a three disc edition) which was the only way I could get to see the extended directors cut, several months down the line from the cinema release.

And now, I’m happy to say, that a relatively recent UK release of that extended edition has arrived on Blu Ray in the UK and so I’m very happy to be reacquainted with the film which made such an impression on me 24 years ago. The events of the film are ‘inspired’ by the 1764 to 1767 killings by a creature known as the Beast of Gévaudan... many of the characters are versions of real life people (not Mani, I’ll get to him soon). But of course, this film is not a portrait of historical accuracy... it’s escapist entertainment and it couples exciting action with wonderful period detail, great cinematography and some remarkable acting talent. The film starts off with one of the principal characters about to be pulled out of his rich aristocrat’s home and nobbled by the mob during the Reign Of Terror period of the French Revolution. Before he goes out to meet his executioners, he writes down the ‘true story’ of the Beast of Gévaudan some decades before... and the film is the back story of when he met the two main protagonists of the film...

There’s Grégoire de Fronsac, an expert in flora and fauna who has been sent by the king to find and kill the beast which has the area in a grip of terror, played by Samuel Le Bihan. With him is his Mohawk Indian sidekick Mani, played by Mark Dacascos. It doesn’t take many minutes in the movie before you find out that Mani is an expert at some kind of athletic kung fu like martial art... in a wonderful early battle taking place in the rain and mud as the two arrive in the area at night and rescue two figures (who will have later import) from being beaten up by soldiers. Originally this fight scene also included Fronsac but it was edited down so that his own kung fu powers would be held back from the audience and brought into play when he, to quote a popular movie, goes on a roaring rampage of revenge after the death of Mani, later on in the last act of the movie.

And it’s a great tale as Fronsac meets several key characters played by the likes of Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci. Bellucci plays an interesting character in this, entering the narrative about half way through, she plays the ‘star attraction’ in the local brothel and it’s only revealed later on to both Fronsac and the audience that it’s also her cover and she’s pretty much a lethal agent of the secret service. With her steel tipped, deadly hand fan and her restorative potions, I like to think of her as the head of Q branch from the Bond movies... or this film’s equivalent. And then there’’s an older lady who looked very familiar to me in this (once again) who I still couldn’t place so, I looked her up and, yeah, it’s Édith Scob, who regular readers here may best remember for her iconic, masked role in Eyes Without A Face.

The film itself is solid action entertainment with a masterful blend of cinematography, design and editing. Gans chooses to slow down some of the action and even slow and then pause certain sequences to enhance mini moments at certain points. This was early days for ‘ramping up and down’ in cinema at the time and it hadn’t worn out its welcome yet. This film uses the technique sparingly and to good effect (unlike some others, over time). It also has some nice moments such as the camera moving up Monica Bellucci’s naked body then merging into the following shot, with the topography of her flesh such as her breasts transforming into a moving camera shot of valleys and forest. It’s nicely done stuff.

Additionally, Gans uses a nice colour palette throughout... mostly employing a lot (and I mean a lot) of blue in everything and then occasionally stabbing against it with a shot of a another colour or using a shifting colour palette to give a sense of different settings.

There’s also a kind of retro spaghetti western feel to some of the fight scenes... or rather, some of the preludes to some of the fight scenes. Gans and his cinematographer like to pick on little details and cut into them (such as rain and water splashing in slow motion) but there’s also a sense of time slowing down and building, just like Sergio Leone might do as a prelude to a moment of violence. And Joseph LoDuca’s thrilling score certainly reflects this accent on occasion with what sounds like a Spanish guitar in places. I may be wrong on the instrument used for those scenes (what do I know about music?) but... either way, it has the same effect of heightening the tension before the explosive, physical release.

And it’s good stuff all round when it comes to Brotherhood Of The Wolf. This is still, to my mind, one of the ten best historical action movies ever made and it certainly shows off the artistry of the director to full effect. This is one that I’ll continue to gravitate back to over the course of my life for sure. The Studio Canal (not my favourite company) Blu Ray has a second disc of extras, most of which I think were on the old North American DVD release including some hefty deleted scenes. I’ll get to those again at some point but, yeah, if you’re still reading this and you’ve not seen this one (and you love cinema)... this is one of those movies that show you just what it’s all about in no uncertain terms.