Die Haut des Wolfes

This is a contemplative but powerful drama with scarce dialogue and where the movie relies on the absolute amazing photography and great acting of Mario Casas and Irene Escolar. It's a story about loneliness, hardship and survival in the rural northern country side of Spain in late 19th century that depicts the relationship between a trapper and his young wife. The lack of dialogue creates an atmosphere that is contagious and transfers the emotional state of the characters to the perfection. Extermely well done, Bravo!

Portrait of harsh and lonely existence of spanish hill farmer.

It is not accurate to call the main character a brute. Acts of tenderness: He spares the wolf who sneaks up on him to tell him that something is wrong at home. He caresses a small goat. He nurses his wife back to health. He helps his wife carry her bag up the mountain. He prepares breakfast for his wife when he learns that she is pregnant. He builds, not one but, two cribs. There are many more examples!

It is the lead trait defining it. but not only. maybe, not the most significant. bitter and strange and useful and a poem -like. a film about loneliness in its most profound sense. the silence, the music, the photography, the landscapes, the close -up. each defining a profound special film. short, a film out of any description or definition. reflection of a state of soul. simple. and cold. perfect in each detail. a useful film. about a world from XIX century. but, in fact, a question about yourself. is it a masterpiece ? surrely, it is more.

Please stop including a time period in your reviews. I'm not quite sure why this bothers me so bad. I know they don't state a specific time period throughout the movie. HOWEVER, two obvious things place the movie in either just before the outbreak of the Spanish civil war or a few years post Spanish civil war period. That version of the Spanish Mauser he uses was not invented pre twentieth century. Also, look at the clothes his two wives wear! They are definitely from the 1930s. Check out his second wife's shoes, as she walks up the mountains. They are most certainly from fashions beyond the 1920s. Rural European mountain villages in the early to mid twentieth century may not have women sporting the latest fashions. It could be the 1940s and the women are wearing dresses that look from the 1930s. Definitely not from the 19th century!