‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’

Kickboxing Frenchmen search for a killer beast in the latest offering from director Christophe Gans.   [R]

By: Bob Brown
   When was the last time you went to a French film and paid more attention to the action than the subtitles? Le Pacte des loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf), directed by Christophe Gans, kickboxes its way through 18th-century France. It’s also a horror film, so you get two action genres for the price of one.
   Gans is no stranger to either genre. His directing credits include a martial arts film, Crying Freeman (1995), co-written by comic-book author Kazuo Koike (Lone Wolf and Cub); and a horror film, Necronomicon (1994), based on stories presented by H. P. Lovecraft.

"Samuel
Samuel Le Bihan (left) and Mark Dacascos are on the hunt for deadly creatures in Brotherhood of the Wolf.


   Brotherhood centers on a phenomenon well known to most French, but unfamiliar here, the Beast of Gevaudan. From 1764 to 1767, something huge, agile and vicious prowled the Auvergne countryside. Eyewitnesses recount 100 killings, mostly of shepherdesses and children. Mutilated remains suggested the creature was larger than any known predator. The few who had seen it described something like a cross between a massive wolf and a hyena, with a spiky mane along its spine.
   Whatever it was, the Crown wanted it killed. Rumors circulated that it was the tool of a person or a group. In this region hostile to the monarchy, where tension between Huguenots and Catholics ran high, King Louis XV feared greater instability as long as the beast reigned. Bands of hunters and soldiers pursued it to little effect.
   So much for history. Now imagine a handsome young naturalist, Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), is dispatched to Gevaudan to assist the Marquis d’Apcher and his son Thomas (Jérémie Rénier) in resolving the matter. Grégoire’s companion is a monosyllabic Iroquois, Mani (Mark Dacascos), whom he has rescued from the French and Indian Wars in the New World.
   Grégoire and Mani are a sort of evil-fighting buddy tag-team. One brings science from the Age of Reason; the other draws on intuition from the world of shamanism. Grégoire records observations and applies steel to most problems. Mani (appropriately named) feels his way, reading people’s nature through their hands and making his point with fists and feet. His eyes speak more than his lips. Just as well: Hawaiian-born Dacascos is a buff martial arts champion who wears French as awkwardly as he does clothes.
   The duo encounters an isolated realm of aristocratic decadence, political intrigue, secret brotherhoods and an assortment of potions, peasants, prostitutes and gypsy-like Wild People, who resemble a lost motorcycle gang in animal skins. Where can an innocent shepherdess turn for help?
   Keeping track of the extensive cast is a challenge. Le Comte de Morangias (Jean Yanne) and Mme. De Morangias (Edith Scob) have a daughter, Marianne (Emilie Dequenne), an independent-minded young woman, who banters with Grégoire. Their dialogue is playful: "I’m in love," he tells her.
   "Isn’t it a little soon?" she says.
   "Oh, you thought I meant with you."
   But his physical needs are satisfied by the mysterious prostitute Sylvia (Monica Bellucci), who is later to be his deus ex machina.
   Mani has no special woman — indeed, women avoid the guy, with snake tattoos all over his chest and a snake bracelet. Dacascos’ martial skill is a centerpiece in this film, with stretches of kickboxing worthy of Hong Kong cinema. Kickboxing in 18th century Auvergne? Don’t ask.
   Brotherhood, however, ends up feeling like a classic horror film. Think of Frankenstein, or more recently, Sleepy Hollow. You never know when or where the evil beast will strike, but you know its gruesome leavings will be all over the place. Thomas d’Apcher is left to tell the tale of two heroes who came to save Gevaudan. But the beast that would consume him and terrorize all of France more than 20 years later was not to be stopped.
Rated R. Contains strong violence, gore and nudity.