Wolf Brothers

After his herd of goats is attacked by wolves and four animals are killed, the father of little Marcos (Manuel Camacho) is deeply in debt to the wealthy yet cold-hearted landowner Don Honesto (José Manuel Soto). The father of two boys has no choice but to sell his youngest Marco to Don Honesto. He sends the boy, who is only seven years old, to the remote Valley of Silence, where he is supposed to help the old goatherd Atanasio (Sancho Garcia). After initial difficulties, the old man develops a very fatherly relationship with the boy, who learns from him how to hunt, read tracks, set traps and other things that are essential for survival in the wilderness. But one day Atanasio becomes seriously ill and dies. Marco is left all alone, with only Atanasio's tame ferret to keep him company. But little by little, the boy manages to survive in seclusion and even befriends a pack of wolves. For many years, Marco (Juan José Ballesta) enjoys his life in the wilderness - until one day other humans come to the Valley of Silence and destroy the peace...

Wolf Brothers is a strange film. On the one hand, the story, based on true events, is really beautiful, though it's never quite clear whether the target audience here is more children, or primarily adults. The nature shots are quite magical at times, the moments between the very well acted Manuel Camacho and the wolves are filled with tremendous beauty, and the relationship between the young boy and the lovable old goat herder Atanasio also makes for some very emotional moments well worth watching.

Director Gerardo Olivares takes his time building up the story. Two-thirds of the 107-minute running time is spent tracing the long march to the Valley of Silence, Marco's first days in the isolated wilderness, his apprenticeship with Atanasio, or even his first months in complete solitude. Here, the film is quite enjoyable despite some minor lengths and scenes riddled with too much pathos.

But then there is a hard cut and the film jumps twelve years into the future, showing a twenty-year-old Marco who now seems to live completely in tune with nature. What happens now is dealt with far too quickly compared to the previous story, also seems borrowed from films like Dances with Wolves, and doesn't have the emotional power at any moment that was repeatedly felt in the first 90 minutes. True, this part of the story is significant in that it resolves the subplot involving resistance fighter Balilla, Atanasio's son. But in the end, the film would have left a much better impression if it had ended before the twelve-year jump and if the viewer had perhaps been informed about Marco's further fate with a text panel.

So, in the end, we are just left with a very ambivalent feeling. On the one hand, there are beautiful landscape and animal shots, an intrinsically engaging story and numerous successful emotional moments. On the other hand, however, there is an unclear target audience and a completely unsuccessful last third, which destroys much of what the film has built up in 90 minutes in a short time. Wolf Brothers is truly not a bad film. But the completely unnecessary giving away of a lot of good potential unfortunately makes an unqualified recommendation of this nature adventure impossible. Therefore, if you like movies like The Fox and the Maiden and can overlook the obvious weak points, especially in the last 15 minutes, you'll get some very watchable moments - no more, but also no less. And in this respect Wolf Brothers is then also: with deductions quite still worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp