How do you get traditional Americans to see a stuffy French film? Easy, just put a lot of action and horror in the marketing and try to avoid tipping off that it is a “foreign language” film. While this is a gross exaggeration, at least some of these tactics were used to elevate Brotherhood of the Wolf to the sixth-highest grossing French-language film of all time in the United States back in 2001. Christophe Gans (Silent Hill) had the right idea when he decided to tackle this material that would bring in genre elements that were largely absent from French cinema. While perhaps at times overly ambitious in its narrative scope, the resulting feature was undeniably exciting much of the time as it took the famous legend of the beast of Gévaudan and made it accessible to a mass audience. There are a few slight technical elements that do not quite hold up after twenty years, but the overall feature is just as stirring as when it first debuted.
We are transported back to 1764 in the French province of Gévaudan where its citizens are being terrorized by a mysterious beast believed to be a wolf. For years deaths have continued to plague the countryside as tales of the malicious entity grown larger and more unbelievable. Many have tried to slay the beast, but most have not even set eyes upon it and lived to tell the tale. This changes upon the arrival of the knight Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan, Three Colors: Red) and his Iroquois companion Mani (Mark Dacascos, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). From the very beginning, the pair are viewed from a curious distance by the high-class residents, mostly due to the fact that Grégoire treats Mani as an equal and neither of them try to play the game of impressing the wealthy. This earns Grégoire the attention of Marianne de Morangias (Émilie Dequenne, Rosetta), much to the chagrin of her handicapped brother Jean-François (Vincent Cassel, Black Swan). While our heroes are one who live by a moral code, those who count themselves among this population do not seem to share in this and make you wonder if they really want the beast caught or not.
The palace mystery portion of the film is mostly intriguing throughout, but there are various moments during this 150-minute behemoth where your interest begins to wane and you hope for something to quicken your pulse sooner rather than later. Gans makes the wise choice of giving you a small amount of action early on when our pair of protagonists stumble upon some ne’er-do-wells and you can see some of the fighting skills they possess. This not only gets you up to speed on their effectiveness in an altercation, but you get flashes of their interpersonal dynamic that make the slower, emotional bits more intriguing later on. Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Dacascos are two standout performers in an ensemble that is ridiculously riddled with talent. They have a natural rapport with one another that feels genuine, and Dacascos especially has you glued to the screen any time he is present. The character of Grégoire takes a little more time to truly wow, but when he does it is thrilling.
The reasons most are probably drawn to this particular story is the potential for action and horror elements, and the film does not disappoint in this respect. This movie employs martial arts and various complicated traps that provide some awe-inspiring moments. You might remember some of these moments from commercials, but the way it plays out within the context of the film is a lot of fun. The last 45 minutes of the story rarely lets up on the bloody brawls or pulse-pounding confrontations with the villainous entity. The film utilizes some digital special effects that do not completely hold up, but thankfully there is a base level of practical effects to keep some of the intrigue alive. As a matter of fact, most of the craft elements of the film are impeccable from the lavish production design to the intricate costumes and bloody makeup effects. A lot of care was put into bringing this film to life, and the quality is readily apparent on screen.
Brotherhood of the Wolf perhaps overstays its welcome and would likely work better with a little tighter construction, but even in its extended form it never fails to be an entertaining experience filled with many unexpected turns and fun surprises. The performances from the biggest roles to the minor players are outstanding and the technical elements are beyond reproach in most respects. Even with its flaws, you have to admire this one for how unique it is in the cinematic landscape.
Video Quality
This new Blu-Ray from Scream Factory rescues Brotherhood of the Wolf from the desolate land of standard definition here in the US with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.33:1 to mixed results. This transfer is derived from a very old master provided by StudioCanal, and one wishes that Scream Factory would have waited for a fresh scan of the master given that we have waited this long. The film has a pretty solid grain structure that preserves the filmic look of the picture, showcasing some details in the thoughtful production design of the feature. Mostly, though, the film just has a flat, aged appearance where strong detail is lacking. The digital effects do not hold up the best under the scrutiny of high definition, but that is not a fault of the transfer. Skin tones look natural, but colors rarely pop off the screen outside of some of the brightest hues present on costumes. Black levels could stand to be a little deeper to showcase stronger shadow detail. There is no apparent damage to be found in this presentation. Scream Factory has done as good of a job as they could with the master they used, but this is a film begging for a fresh 4K scan.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original French, along with both a DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio track in dubbed English. While we recommend the French track as the only option for artistic merit, it is also the strongest of the three and the one that opens up this world in a pretty interesting way sonically. The time in this land, especially during tracking sequences, offers distinct sounds that creep through the surrounds to provide some excellent ambient details. All of the various sounds in the mix seem accurately placed so that nothing ever feels off. Dialogue sounds perfectly clear without sound effects or the score trouncing on important information. Moments of chatter at crowded palace events are employed appropriately in precise channels in the front and rear. The subwoofer is given a substantial workout at points with some gun fire and moments of violence from hand-to-hand fighting and the beast attack. The score is weighty and soaring throughout as it maintains a nice fidelity.. Overall, this is a pleasing track that does everything it needs to do.
What is not pleasing is the botched subtitle situation that is going on here. As this is a French film, subtitles are an essential part of the viewing experience for a large portion of the audience, but the English subtitles provided here are lacking in many respects from frequent spelling mistakes to brief portions not being translated at all with a simple inclusion of “unclear” instead of an accurate translation. This might not sting as much if there were not proper English subtitles on previous DVD releases and other foreign releases that are much better than what is included here. When asked for comment from Scream Factory, this is what was relayed to me:
Our French licensor was not able to furnish us with subtitles to the director’s cut and although we tried, we were unable to obtain the subtitle files from the 2008 DVD release, so we sent the French audio out for a new translation. The English dub is not a perfect translation of the actual French dialogue, as they write a script for the dub to try and match the mouth movement. Unfortunately, the new subtitles do have some mistakes that weren’t caught during the QC process. We recognize that this may diminish some viewers’ experience with this release, and for that we are truly sorry.
From what I understand, there are currently no plans for any kind of replacement program, but it also does not seem completely off the table. If there is any change on this matter, this portion of the review will be updated accordingly. The film is still watchable with these botched subtitles, but fans should not have to put up with the substandard presentation from a company that is capable of doing much better.
UPDATE: The good folks at Scream Factory will now be offering a replacement program to correct errors in the English subtitles on Disc 1 of Brotherhood of the Wolf.
If you would like to sign up to receive the corrected disc at no cost to you, please go HERE and follow the instructions on the form. Please note that if you live outside the US and Canada, you will need to use a freight forwarding service to receive the replacement disc.
*Once this disc is received, a new review will be posted to reflect these changes.
Special Features
- Deleted Scenes: A 40-minute piece presented in SD in which director Christophe Gans introduces five unfinished scenes not included in the final film or intended for a longer version. Gans does a nice job of giving context to each setup and the scenes themselves are entertaining, especially the first fight scene that is an extended version of the first altercation. In addition to providing the actual scenes, there is also some behind-the-scenes footage included.
- The Guts of the Beast: An epic 78-minute documentary in which the cast and crew delve into nearly every aspect of the film you could want from the casting of the picture, the art direction, the fight scenes, the creature design, the digital effects and more. Interview subjects include director Christophe Gans, executive Francois Congnard, writer Stephane Cabel, actors Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, and Emilie Dequenne, cinematographer Dan Laustsen, production designer Guy-Claude Francois, stunt choreographer Philip Kwok, stunt performers Gaelle Cohen and Nicky Naude, producer Richard Grandpierre, visual effects supervisor Jamie Courtier, and visual effects artists Pete Bell, Val Wardlaw, and Seb Caudron. Subtitles occasionally drop out for a short bit so those who know French should count themselves lucky.
- The Making of Brotherhood of the Wolf: Another 78-minute documentary that gets more into the actual day-to-day production of the film including the filming of fight scenes, actors finding their characters, creatives solving disagreements and sharing in the enthusiasm and more. This piece is a bit more informal than the previous documentary but shows off the making of a film in a way that rarely gets documented these days.
- Legend: A 17-minute featurette with author Michel Louis who shares his knowledge on the Beast from Gevaudan story and his thoughts on the film.
- Theatrical Trailers: Two trailers totaling four minutes are provided here
Final Thoughts
Brotherhood of the Wolf is a big, ambitious film that may not always work, but it works enough of the time to keep you invested in this absurd, exciting tale. The film is visually a near masterpiece with its immaculate production design and lavish costumes. The performances are strong across the ensemble, but Mark Dacascos steals the film early on and never gives it back. Scream Factory has released a Blu-Ray that is a bit disappointing compared to what could have been. While the lack of a new master is disappointing, the A/V quality is generally acceptable for fans waiting for some kind of domestic HD release. The lack of error-free subtitles is a major issue with this disc that will hopefully be corrected. The second disc full of special features provide a lot of wonderful insights that fans will love digging into if they haven’t already on previous packed DVD releases of the film. With all of this information in mind, fans can decide for themselves if this release will work for their needs.
Brotherhood of the Wolf is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Scream Factory has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
