Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

Director: Christophe Gans

Starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Jérémie Renier

In 18th-century France, the Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani are sent to the Gevaudan province at the king’s behest to investigate the killings of hundreds by a mysterious beast.

Somehow I expected a werewolf movie. There is a beast, yes, but it ain’t no werewolf. According to the story, the beast first made its appearance in the village in 1764. Two years later the beast is still terrorizing the villagers and killing dozens.

Two voyagers, Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) and Mani (Mark Dacascos) arrive in town to try and resolve the matter. On close inspection of one of the victims, Gregoire finds metal in the victim’s wound, ruling out an animal. And thus begins their investigation, and I found this investigative element interesting.

Unfortunately, though, I found the film very slow paced. The film runs two and a half hours long and wastes a lot of time with scenes that doesn’t contribute anything to the movie – especially the scenes in the brothel. These scenes were just way too long and could have been cut significantly. The film is also dialogue heavy.

Set in a time when men wore make-up, lipstick, and flamboyant gowns (and no-one raised an eyebrow back in the day, I might add, so why now?), the costume design is exquisite. There’s subtle romance elements between Gregoire and Marianne de Morangias (Émilie Dequenne) – the daughter of a local count. I really enjoyed Samuel Le Bihan as Gregoire, a character who felt like a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Monte Cristo.

While this is a stylish mystery horror thriller and there are several good scenes, I ultimately became bored with the film – mainly because it is way overlong. There were also moments where I had not idea what was actually going on. Towards the end, the film also became a bit weird – and even supernatural. ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ blends action, adventure, horror, martial arts and yes, even supernatural in one scene towards the end. The film also had a gothic feel to it.

The twist reveal about the beast had me shaking my head in disappointment. This is not what I expected. And again, note this is not a werewolf movie. Make no mistake ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ is a very well made film. Sadly, I think I’m going to forget this in time to come.

‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ earned nearly $71 million at the box office, on a budget of $29 million. It received 26 award nominations, winning 4 (Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best New Actress, and Best Fantasy Film).

Would I watch it again? No.