FILM REVIEW - BROTHERHOOD OF THE
WOLF
The title immediately makes you
think werewolf movie, and then
you see the first attack by an unseen monstrous creature take place in
broad daylight and realize it isn't. The brutality of the attack is
ferocious and in keeping with the tone of the remainder of the film too,
lady running from the creature falls over a cliff, to be grabbed in mid
fall and thrown back up the cliff side, and dashed repeatedly against the
rocks at the top before what's left of her (not much) is thrown back over.
The setting is France in the 1800's as the Age Of Reason was
collapsing into revolution. The 'wolf' has been killing people in Rural
Avignon and all efforts to find the 'beast' have failed. Enter a
wandering hero, and his very enigmatic serious kick ass (heavy on eastern
martial arts by looks of things) Red Indian blood brother accomplice, Mani,
(the hero was a champion of the Americans against the Brits in the War OF
Independence, but later rebelled against the US for their treatment of the
Indians, - "My General's main tactic was to present the Indians with
infected linen from the field hospitals. Most of them were dead within
weeks") . The hero is not unlike Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow, a man of
science, unmoved by talk of demons and monsters, - the duo are drawn into
aiding the hunt for the beast, which i for the French aristocracy involves
culling the land of every wolf in sight, (upsetting the Indian who sees a
wolf as his spirit guide), also there is a marquis in the hunt who is
decadent enough to have a powerful musket that fires silver bullets as he
likes to leave a strong reminder of his presence for his enemies. This guy
has apparently only one arm from being mauled by a lion in Africa. (he often
slags off the Indian as little better than the Negroes which shows the kind
of man he is)
Examining a new victim of the beast reveals a big surprise, the wolf
is half flesh and half metal, (iron teeth are found in the victim,) and a
survivor tells of a human accomplice to the beast - the heroes discover
that the beast is in fact an agent of a Church conspiracy, a dog trapped in
a stegosaurus like metal armour plating unleashed to terrify the people
back from atheism and science to the ways of the Church, (the Voltarian
hero at one point tells a priest ""Lies read like truth when
whispered in
Latin") They set a trap for the beast luring it out with real wolves which
are sympathetic to it (the creature is depicted as tortured by its armour
rather than monstrous in itself, - the whole Hound Of The Baskervilles
motif is a strong one) and trying to kill it with a whole valley full of
elaborate Vietnam style booby traps which it demolishes with ease, the
Indian gives pursuit and is killed by the Brotherhood's demented leader,
(so bad that even the Church that set him off have grown scared of him)
which makes the hero, as his blood brother transform into him, taking on
many of his characteristics , as he goes completely Rambo and wastes
into the Brotherhood, only to have to stop in mid fight to honour the
Indian tradition of burning his friend's body at first light, a funeral
request during which he is arrested for murders.
Assisted by the female lead who has already boasted that the women of
the region control their men by giving them a poison each morning for which
they must return home at night for the antidote, he is killed by her
poison, buried, and returns three days later, (spot the Christ allegory) and
suddenly it's L'Age Dor as the film goes al Louis Buneul, and he goes back
to waste the remaining Brotherhood figures and take on their leader, who
has a sword that telescopes out into a viscous chain whip devise, - a few
other surprises there, - beautifully scripted and photographed, a very
decadent brothel scene or two, a wolf creature superbly realized and
created, - in general a classic - and definitely not for the squeamish -
Arthur Chappell
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