Loup

We saw it in the original French and the soundtrack was far from easy - I could imagine it would have been worse in dubbed Californian! But the photography is superb. It was fascinating to reflect how such natural shots of wolves in the wild had been obtained. We saw it in a village festival in the east of France, an area in which shepherds are having increasing problems with wolves killing sheep, so it was a potentially sensitive subject in the community, and the exploration of the relationship between humans and wolves, and our need for dogs in parallel, is interestingly explored. Difficult to see how you can avoid sentimentality when you find humans getting near to sweet little wolf cubs!

This very good documentary was filmed on location in the north east of Siberia. It features a tribe called the "Evenes" who lives with rein-deers which get eaten by wolves. A member of the tribe, Sergueï is chosen by his peers to keep the rein-deers in summer and fall. One day, near his hut, he discovers a she-wolf with her offspring. He tries to tame them and manages to get closer to them. Later on, he meets the male but after the fall, comes what the tribe has always feared: a female deer is eaten by a wolf and some members want to avenge themselves by killing the beasts. As for Sergueï, he is torn between his love for the wolves and his duty to protect rein-deers.

Cinematography is absolutely dazzling, camera angles and a superb score enhance the impression of magnificence and it's a feat the director could manage to shoot this beautiful story in such a freezing surrounding. The denunciation of ecological disasters like deforestation was also one of the filmmaker's goals.

If you're tired of being manipulated by the Hollywood imperialism, why not having a break on the other side of the world with this harrowing story?

I hate dubbed movies. It just doesn't sound natural. Unfortunately I couldn't find the film in its original French language. Its unfair to judge a movie this way, but sadly it has a big impact on the entertainment value of a film.

But lets forget about that for a moment and focus on the premise. The film's protagonist is Sergei, who has been chosen to guard the reindeer. To protect the clan's reindeer from prowling wolves is a great honour. However, when Sergei stumbles upon wolf pups, and sees how protective their mother is of them, he can't bring himself to hurting them. Instead, he starts visiting them every day until they become familiar with him. In the process, he neglects his duties as guardian of the reindeer, and becomes annoyed with the rest of his clan.

When he falls in love with Nastazya and shows her the wolves, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to keep their secret, and protect the herd at the same time. There's plenty of action and adventure, and beautiful cinematography. The wolves are absolutely adorable!

I've yet been unable to verify whether the entire film was shot on location, or in front of blue screens. Either way, it looks really good on screen - especially the winter scenes, which are magnificent. While there's much to love about the film, the dubbing ruined most of it for me. I would love to see this film in French!

Having seen 'Wolf Totem' recently, 'Loup' felt like a Disney family movie. It is a well made film and worth the watch, but I doubt I'll watch it again.

Beautiful cinematography, nice story. Great wolves. A modern fairy tale, not realistic off course, but poetic, seductive and accepted as reasonable. The basic problem - maybe the language . Yes, a French movie but , real, can you imagine as fair the characters as French speakers ?

I am really disappointed as the movie without audio was extraordinary.

We started watching it on French TV (TV5Monde) and had to stop. The contrast between the life of those young Siberian reindeer-raising tribesmen discussing their affairs, and their words spoken in the French language and accent typical of 21st century French teenagers was unbearable. The contrast was actually destroying the authenticity of the movie. The producers totally spoiled a perfectly good movie with a ridiculous dubbing.

I hope there is a non-dubbed, subtitled version somewhere. I would be very interested.