Review of Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) by E F — 15 Feb 2011

This modern classic French film, poorly dubbed into English, tells a interesting story of 18th century France, and a population scared of and searching to kill the wild wolves. It is long and slow but just as it begins to bore another bit of action is injected. It is almost like a low-budget French Lord of The Rings or similar folklore tale.

There is fighting, a good feeling of scale, well set periodic details (costumes, locations etc), a decent enough low key cast (with Mesrine/La Haine's Vincent Cassel) and a mixture of action, mild suspense and social dialogue. The effects later on are also good for 2001. This all adds ingredients to an ambitious film that is pleasant enough to experience, even if it is a tad bit slow to begin with (the first hour) but once the monsters come it soon picks up.

A magical oddity classic tale. An over the top, historical fantasy epic, whereby French noblemen hunt the mutant werewolf, amidst peasants, a brothel and much macho tomfoolery.