Brotherhood of the Wolf

'Pacte des Loups' is a beautiful film, in the tradition of the French historical movies, but well adapted to the needs of the contemporary commercial cinema. Based on a French legend, it builds a complex and convincing story line, and I was captivated to follow the action despite the length of the movie. Filming, staging and costumes are of exquisite quality, and so is the acting, with Monica Belucci shining at the top of her acting career and beauty. Certainly the director made concessions to the the commercial cinema, and the story in the second part does not really meet the expectations of the well built tension in the first half. However, it is overall a good cinema experience and a film worth watching in the cinema, or renting the DVD version. 8/10 on my personal scale.