Review
The Wolf and the Lion (Family, Drama) (2021)
Director: Gilles de Maistre
Writer: Gilles de Maistre, Prune de Maistre
Stars: Molly Kunz, Charlie Carrick, Evan Buliung, Graham Greene
After her grandfather’s death, Alma returns to his private island in the Canadian wilderness. Soon finding the wreckage of a plane carrying a young lion cub destined for the circus. Instead of handing it to animal services, she raises it herself alongside a wolf mother and her pup.
Similar to Gilles de Maistre’s previous film ‘’Mia and the White Lion’’, this film uses real animals to display unique bonding relationships. It’s a French/Canadian project trying to explore the subject of keeping wild animals and what is right. The idea behind it was created during the making of Maistre’s previous film, later writing the script alongside his wife, Prune de Maistre. It has been produced by Mai Juin Prods, Galatée Films, Les Productions Wematin, and M6 Films while being distributed by StudioCanal.
Such a film as ‘’The Wolf and the Lion’’ could easily shine within the family genre, made to enamour the viewer by showing a special bond between Molly Kunz’s Alma and her animals. Raising the wolf and lion together from five years old gives de Maistre’s film something not attainable by many other productions. The process behind it feels similar to ‘’Boyhood’’ where a child actor was featured in a film actually growing up without any re-casting or visual trickery.
The Canadian wilderness serves as a perfect backdrop for Kunz’s Alma to re-discover her childhood home alongside her animal companions. Yet, no tale is complete without drama; Graham Greene’s Joe is hesitant as Alma shows similar interests as her grandfather in caring for wild animals. Following this slight initial turmoil, more characters are introduced, leading to a flimsy narrative only left satisfactory due to lion Dreamer and wolf Mozart.
If not for the performances themselves, the dialogue would’ve felt barren, as the writing is shallow, over-simplified and mostly brief. Time spent within scenes is much the same, with twitchy editing forcing time-skips in what feels like every scene. But, the worst aspect is the loose human motivations; the animal conservationist who’s villainised throughout most of the movie eventually wants to assist Alma, as they both confront the true antagonist in the circus owner. In the end, you’d assume there would be an important message about keeping animals, yet while it bashes the circus industry, Alma keeping two grown carnivores in her grandfather’s house is seemingly okay.
There are bright spots in ‘’ The Wolf and the Lion’’, but it could’ve been a definite highlight of the year if only it took as much time to develop a well-written script as they had Kunz bond with the animals.
Verdict
Animals really are smarter than humans.
6,0
