History Film / BrotherhoodOfTheWolf

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: It's never really made clear what, exactly, the Beast ''is.'' All we know is that [[spoiler: it's the offspring of an animal that Jean-François brought back with him from Africa.]] WordOfGod is that it's [[spoiler:a lion]], but it doesn't really look or act like a typical one.

* BladeBelowTheShoulder: The gypsy men's preferred weapons are long metal claws attached to a handle
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:Jean-François and Marianne. It's never quite clear what exactly happens, but ''he'' certainly wants it, and presumably she falls deadly ill by the end of the film because he's raped her. Don't worry, though; she gets better.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:True, the villains of the piece are killed, but the heroes don't fare much better. Mani's dead; the much feared beast was just an innocent animal who was forced to slaughter people by its sadistic owner, and Fronsac has to MercyKill it; the Marquis d'Apcher - pretty much one of the few decent people in this whole thing - is recalling the story as he's about to be sent to the guillotine; and all he can do is ''hope'' that Fronsac and Marianne got their happily ever after.]]

* DualWielding: Fronsac during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Fronsac and Mani use a French form of martial arts called ''Canne De Combat'' -- stick-fighting mixed with ''savate''. Because the action scenes are filmed in an Eastern style, many audience members found 18th centry Frenchmen "kung fu fighting" to be strange.

* TheFrenchRevolution.

* RightThroughHisPants: Fronsac with Sylvia.

* TookALevelInBadass: Fronsac after [[spoiler: Mani is killed]]. Or at least, it seems that way from the point of the view of the rest of the characters, since up until then Fronsac had been content to let Mani handle BadAss duty. It turns out he was just as Badass as Mani all along, [[UpToEleven if not more so]], and when properly motivated he [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge plows a path of utter destruction]] that makes a viewer wonder why he even kept Mani around for at all.

* WhipSword: [[spoiler: Jean-François wields one in the climatic duel with Fronsac]].

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Henri Sardis, creator and leader of the Brotherhood]] escapes arrest only to be chased down by the pack of wolves.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The much feared beast was just an innocent animal who was forced to kill by its sadistic owner, and Fronsac has to MercyKill it. Mani's dead, the Marquis d'Apcher - pretty much one of the few decent people in this whole thing - is recalling the story as he's about to be sent to the guillotine, and all he can do is ''hope'' that Fronsac and Marianne got their happily ever after.]]

* {{Tsundere}}: Marianne

* TheIngenue: Le Comte de Monragias, Jean-Francois and Marianne's father. [[spoiler: And one of the few aristocrats who knew nothing about the Cult.]]

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Sort of. [[spoiler: As his thoat has been slashed by Fronsac, Jean-François grabs one of Fronsac swords with his WhipSword. Fronsac lets the sword go when Jean-François pulls his whipsword back to reassemble it, impaling Jean-François in the process. The scene feels like a SpecialEffectFailure though.]]

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Sort of. [[spoiler: Jean-François grabs one of Fronsac swords with his WhipSword. Fronsac lets the sword go when Jean-François pulls his whipsword back to reassemble it, impaling himself with Fronsac's sword in the process. The scene feels like a SpecialEffectFailure though.]]

* TownWithADarkSecret

* WeaponizedAnimal

* TheWisePrince: Thomas, young Marquis d'Apcher, one of the few aristocrats that fully trusts Fronsac and who sees Mani as a person, and not as a savage. [[spoiler: It's possible that this is why the other aristocrats never considered him to join their cult]].

* WhipSword

* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler:Jean-François]].

* HighClassCallGirl: Slyvia

* OfCorsetsSexy

* TheWisePrince: Thomas, Marquis d'Apcher, one of the few aristocrats that fully trusts Fronsac and who sees Mani as a person, and not as an indian. [[spoiler: It's possible that this is why the other aristocrats never considered him to join their cult]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: It's never really made clear what, exactly, the Beast ''is.'' All we know is that [[spoiler: it's the offspring of an animal that Jean-François brought back with him from Africa.]] WordofGod is that it's [[spoiler:a lion]], but it doesn't really look or act like a typical one.

* {{Badass}}: Fronsac, Mani [[spoiler: and Jean-François]].

* BadassLongcoat: The greatcoats worn by Fronsac and Mani at the very beginning. The image was used on most promotional material, even though they wear them in one single scene.

* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Mani.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler: La Bavarde.]]

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Or rather, Chekhov's handcrafted silver bullet. Also, the bone-sword, glimpsed briefly in Jean-Francois' occult RoomFullOfCrazy.]]
* ChurchMilitant: [[spoiler: Sylvia is actually a spy for the Vatican.]]

* DesignatedGirlFight: [[spoiler: Sylvia is the one to take out La Bavarde, though Fronsac does kill a number of other gypsy women. It's more of a CurbStompBattle though.]]

It is ''very'' loosely based on the real, historical mystery of "the beast of Gévaudan" - a creature which allegedly killed almost 100 people, most of them women and children, over a three year period in a remote, rural area of France. In the summer of 1764, King Louis XV arranged a great hunt, and a wolf claimed to be the beast was slain, but subsequently more killings took place. "The Beast" has never been identified.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: It's never really made clear what, exactly, the Beast ''is.'' All we know is that [[spoiler: it's the offspring of an animal that Jean-François brought back with him from Africa.]] WordofGod is that it's [[spoiler: a lion]], but it doesn't really look or act like a typical one.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Played with. Fronsac was presumed death after being poisoned by Sylvia, turns out the effects were just temporary.]]

* BadassNative: Mani, a native American Indian who is quite a skilled fighter with his body and tomahawk.

French film - original title ''Le Pacte des Loups'' - released in 2001 and directed by Christophe Gans, who was previously known for his LiveActionAdaptation of ''Manga/CryingFreeman''.

It is ''very'' loosely based on the real, historical mystery of "the beast of Gévaudan" - a creature which allegedly killed almost 100 people, most of them women and children, over a three year period in a remote, rural area of France. In the summer of 1764, King Louis XV arranged a great hunt, and a wolf claimed to be the beast was slain, but subsequently more killings took place. "The beast" has never been identified.

The hero of the film is nobleman Grégoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan), [[GeniusBruiser who's a soldier/scientist/taxidermist]] recently returned from Colonial America with his {{sidekick}} the [[MagicalNativeAmerican wise]] [[NinjaPirateRobotZombie kung fu]] Indian Mani (Mark Dacascos).

* AnimalMotifs: Lampshaded by Mani.

* SceneryPorn: Both played straight (the set designs are gorgeous), and with a bit of a pun (the naked form of MonicaBellucci forms a couple of the hills in a lingering outdoor shot).

* DesignatedGirlFight: [[spoiler: Sylvia is the one to take out La Bavarde, though Fronsac does kill a number of other gypsy women.]]

* DesignatedGirlFight: Sylvia is the one to take out La Bavarde, though Fronsac does kill a number of other gypsy women.

* SinisterMinister: More subtle than most examples, but Henri Sardis certainly qualifies.

* WouldHitAGirl: Mani and Fronsac don't have much of a problem fighting the female gypsies. [[spoiler: Except La Bavarde, the woman they saved when they first arrived into town. This ends up costing Mani his life.]]
** Mani at least goes easy on the female gypsies, out of some sense of chivalry. After [[spoiler: Mani dies,]] however, all bets are off...

* CastTheExpert: Mark Dacascos is a martial artist.

** BadassNative: Mani, a native American Indian who is quite a skilled fighter with his body and tomahawk.
** BadassLongcoat: The greatcoats worn by Fronsac and Mani at the very beginning. The image was used on most promotional material, even though they wear them in one single scene.

** [[spoiler: [[TearJerker The...look in its eyes...]]it was like it was apologizing for all the deaths it was forced to do and begging for death.]]

* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Fronsac and Mani use a French form of martial arts called ''Canne De Combat'' -- stick-fighting mixed with ''savate''. Even still, the action scenes are filmed in an Eastern style, and therefore many audience members found 18th centry Frenchmen "kung fu fighting" to be a bit strange.
* FakeNationality: A rather remarkable example--Iroquois Mani is played by Marc Dakascos, who is [[AmbiguouslyBrown Filipino, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Irish]] in ancestry.

* AristocratsAreEvil: Well, some of them, though this is subverted in the bookends.