I think it would be fair to say that Big Bad Wolves is a radical departure in Israeli cinema.
It doesn’t deal with the convoluted political and emotional intricacies of the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the pain and trauma of the Holocaust, two of the most enduring themes in Israeli film. Nor does it touch on internal religious or Arab issues. And it isn’t one of those cheap, schmaltzy comedies so favored by working-class Israelis.
So what is it?
Coming straight from the chilly vaults of the horror genre, it’s dark and eerie, impregnated with violence and splattered with blood and gore. It reminds me of a Charles Bronson or Quentin Tarantino classic, or perhaps, a Stephen King novel.
Set in contemporary Israel, the film is basically about the presumption of guilt and the notion of vigilante justice. Directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Pupushado, it’s scheduled to open on Friday, Jan. 17 at the Cineplex theater at Yonge and Dundas.
In the opening scene, two thuggish young men assault a mild-mannered high school teacher who, they believe, murdered a girl. The thugs are, in fact, plain clothes detectives. The suspect, Dror (Rotem Keinan), is something of a nebbish and seems perfectly normal and innocent.
Strangely enough, Dror’s pupils are also suspicious of him. During one of his classes, he intercepts a student note in which he’s accused of being a pedophile, rapist and murderer. Why he is held in such disrepute is a mystery.
The loathsome accusations against Dror are never articulated, much less explained. In everyone’s eyes, he’s the villain.
Miki (Lior Ashkenazi), a hard-bitten detective who’s worked on the case, is utterly convinced of Dror’s guilt. So, too, is Gidi (Tzahi Grad), a weird guy whose daughter has been murdered. They both pursue Dror, who heatedly professes his innocence.
Gidi and Miki kidnap Dror, take him to a cottage in a forest and subject him to torture after he refuses to come clean. When Miki has second thoughts about Dror’s guilt, Gidi chains him to the wall as a prisoner. The plot thickens when Gidi’s father, bearing home-made soup and a bag of gruesome tricks, arrives on the scene.
Where will it all end?
The film is fairly suspenseful, all the more so thanks to a melodramatic musical score, and the acting is plausible. The final, enigmatic scene will surely leave viewers scratching their heads.
Big Bad Wolves, in one fell swoop, takes the Israeli movie industry into new terrain. Whether it’s a shot in the dark or the first volley in a new trend remains to be seen.