Watching: Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

     I'll be reviewing films I watched (like I do on my letterboxd occasionally) but I primarily want to share some pretty screenshots.

    Around 2001 I saw the trailer for Brotherhood of the Wolf and being a child who was very much smitten with cool martial arts and action I asked my parents to see it. They deemed the movie too scary and violent and chose not to let me watch. I'd seen Alien, Species, Jaws, and Pitch Black by that point but it is likely that child me would have found this film tedious to sit through. It's slow and luscious in parts and quite an expansive story. Just as well I watched the film 20 years later. 

    In a lot of ways Brotherhood of the Wolf is very much its time period- it's a mashup of period piece, fantasy, and martial arts with the lusciousness of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Two men, a knighted naturalist and his Iroquois companion, arrive in the province of Gevaudan with orders from the king to capture a terrible beast that's been savaging women and children. The beast is suspected to be a large wolf and perhaps a demon, but what the two men uncover is something more sinister and strange. The naturalist Fronsac also falls in love with noble woman Marianne de Morangias and courts her during his time hunting the beast.

    Overall, this film is entertaining and beautiful with elaborate costumes and sets. Expect some swashbuckling fights with elaborate choreography. While not perfect, the odd mash of genres works well and makes for an exciting watch. I enjoyed the layers of intrigue that the film presents as well. The story is far weirder than simply hunting a beast that is rumored to be supernatural.

    One big criticism I have is that the film does rely heavily on a "noble savage" theme with the Iroquois character Mani. Mani is both a shaman and a warrior and has a mystical connection to wolves- and he's also killed to further the plot. This kind of character and plot are nothing new to me, it's something that's played out hundreds of times with Natives as catch-all healers and mystics who die or disappear to leave the real action to our white hero who is now the better guardian of sacred knowledge. That said, Mark Dacascos (who plays Mani) is a talented martial artist and he's fantastic in the action scenes.

    If you can overlook the film's flaws, you will no doubt have a fun time. Here's some screenshots of the film I took during my viewing. I think the folks who worked on Bloodborne got some costume and setting inspiration from this film.