Plot
A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course: The father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the ... See full summary »
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 7.5/10 (826 voted)
Critic's Score: 70/100
Director: Aharon Keshales
Stars: Lior Ashkenazi, Rotem Keinan, Tzahi Grad
Storyline
A series of brutal murders puts the lives of three men on a collision course: The father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the boundaries of law, and the main suspect in the killings - a religious studies teacher arrested and released due to a police blunder.
Writers: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado
Cast: Lior Ashkenazi -
Micki
Rotem Keinan -
Dror
Tzahi Grad -
Gidi
Doval'e Glickman -
Yoram
Menashe Noy -
Rami
Dvir Benedek -
Tsvika
Kais Nashif -
Man on horse
Nati Kluger -
Eti
Ami Weinberg -
Principal Meir
Guy Adler -
Eli
Arthur Perry -
Ofer
Gur Bentwich -
Shauli
I must launch one of my rants about film titles translations. Usually
my complains are about translating English titles to Hebrew or my
mother-tongue Romanian - now it's about the reverse translation. This
film is titled in Hebrew 'Who's afraid of the Big Wolf' which is
obviously a reference to Edward Albee's play. Why on Earth (or in the
Negev Desert) would this reference to the title of a well known play
written in English be dropped when translating the title of the film
from Hebrew to English? Luckily this is one of the few mistakes made by
the creators of this interesting film, a good exercise in the genre of
horror which slowly gathers mass and quality in the Israeli cinema.
The story of the film directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado
could have been a thriller as it is built upon a police case, but it's
a case we learn almost nothing about. There is a police file in the
film which ends by being used for very different purposes than
intended, but we really do not know on what the suspicions on evil
crimes of pedophilia and murder are based, on what grounds the main
suspect, a high-school teacher is arrested, freed, kidnapped and
eventually punished. More than a thriller this film is closer to the
horror genre and asks in an implicit manner some tough questions about
truth and guilt, about punishment and who has the right to apply it,
about morality in the cases when justice cannot be made. Fans of horror
should by no means be discouraged as all these (important) message are
implicit and they are served in 'Big Bad Wolves' with a copious portion
of their preferred stuff which seems to have been the first priority of
the directors (who also wrote the script).
The team of actors includes a few faces who are well-known to Israeli
audiences and I was almost envying the foreign audiences for whom
splendid actors like Guy Adler, Lior Ashkenazi, Dvir Benedek, or
Doval'e Glickman are new. They all do good jobs. The musical score is
well fit, in sync with the action in many moments, or providing the
connection with the universe of childhood and fairy tales which is the
emotional counterpoint of the whole story in other. Cinematography
tries and succeeds a few good things, but falls into routine in the
basement and night scenes which occupy much of the story, and editing
could have been a little more alert for my taste. Overall I liked this
film, and I believe it has chances for a good run among the fans of the
genre and not only among them.
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