If I were to try to categorize Brotherhood of the Wolf, I would call it a French kung-fu, monster movie. This may seem like a rather unusual categorization, but there really is no other way to describe it. The story takes place in 18th century France, before the French Revolution. The Gevaudin region in France is besieged by a beast that kills women and children. Chevalier de Fronsac and his Native American friend Mani travel to the region to uncover the truth about the beast.
It is a stylish movie. One of the more interesting cinematic tricks employed is the use of slow motion and freeze frames. These are used during the action sequences and during the scenes when the beast attacks. The freeze frames are used to focus in on an expression on a face in order to convey a particular emotion, which is of course almost always one of fear. The slow motion and freeze frames used during the fight scenes add drama as well as impact to some of the blows that are landed. But what I love best about this movie is how well the mixture of genres works. And the story is really quite interesting.
One thing to note about the DVD, the English dubbed version matches the English subtitles in the French version almost exactly. This isn’t often the case. Try watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with English subtitles while it’s dubbed. The two do not match and will sometimes give you completely different story information.
By the way, this movie is rated R and is not recommended for the kiddies. Or for people who are a bit squeamish about blood. There isn’t a lot of blood, but there is enough.
at January 28, 2006 11:16 PM