From the same filmmakers as Gunpowder Milkshake, this thriller-satire is worth the admission to Prime.
Big Bad Wolves
You have not seen a satirical thriller since Pulp Fiction that is both humorous and biting until you’ve seen Big Bad Wolves (2013). In fact, the closest to this light-hearted, macabre take is the directors as producers’ Gunpowder Milkshake (Ahron Keshales, Navot Papushado) earlier this year.
Wolves weaves a textured tale of abduction and murder into a bright satire of dad-daughter motifs prevalent in current hero movies. That it also is a trenchant criticism of Gitmo-type torture adds more to what the artists apparently wanted to say about outré crime today.
The writer/directors impose a light palette on their troubling commentary about reconciling with daughters in general. Allied to its troubling motif of absentee dads who come back to mend their family fences, this measured satire is about the fraught struggle between dads and sons who have usually misunderstood each other and not thought about the sins of the fathers being vested on the children.
A dad tries to avenge his daughter’s beheading by torturing the alleged pedophile into revealing where he buried her head. A clueless cop also seeks the answer with less brutal means. BTW, the cop helps the writer-directors expand on the feckless dads, ramping up the mythical take on Israeli military efficacy and the interplay with Arab culture—the scene with the Arabian horseman that looks like the Israeli is an amusing commentary on the flawed perception of the difference between Palestine and Israel.
My meta view of the humorous actioner is that investigation of murders and judgements we make about motive are as flawed as the crimes. Enjoy this entertaining action-satire on Prime.
Big Bad Wolves
Directors: Ahron Keshales, Navot Papushado
Screenplay: Keshales, Papushado
Cast: Tzahi Grad, Lior Ashkenazi, Rotem Keinan
Run Time: 1h 50m
Rating: NR
