After
the horror came a coda of terror for these painfully young survivors. They were
liberated from a concentration camp by the Russians, only to be abandoned in a
remote improvised orphanage. Unfortunately, they are still threatened by
demons, both external and internal, in Adrian Panek’s Werewolf (trailer
here),
which had its international premiere at the 2018 Fantastic Fest.
Nobody
turns feral when the full moon rises in this film. These werewolves are
metaphorical, referring to the beasts we keep at bay inside. However, there
really is a pack of vicious dogs. They are sort of like the canines in White God, but less allegorical and
really in no way supernatural.
Ranging
from five-ish to the twenty-year-old Hanka, the children have been deposited in
a crumbling grand manor house, under the supervision of the bereaved Jadwiga.
Alas, their sardonic protector will not last long, leaving them to face the pack
of snarling dogs that surrounds their new home completely on their own. The
children will be prisoners within the house, forgotten by the not-so compassionate
Russians. With food and water running short, they will have to start
improvising. Unfortunately, there is also dissension within, stemming from
Janek and Wladek’s romantic interest in Hanka and resentment over the former’s
German nationality.
This
is a film that could have gone perilously wrong in so many ways, but Panek always
keeps it on the right side and totally on solid ground. We see the various survival
strategies that have been ingrained into the children, but even when Janek is
at his worst, he still very clearly remains a traumatized little boy, whom we
have sympathy for.
Sonia
Mietielica, Nicolas Przgoda, and Kamil Polnisiak are all quite remarkable as
Hanka, Janek, and Wladek, respectively. They each portray deeply wounded
characters, in mature and challenging ways, but they also handle the business
of being stuck in a Cujo-like
situation quite convincingly.
Technically,
Werewolf is also quite an assured,
well-put-together package. Cinematographer Dominik Danilczyk gives it the look
of an ominous fable, while the design team (production designer Anna Wunderlich,
art director Marcin Aziukiewicz) really make the mansion-turned-orphanage look
like a shabby monument to faded days of glory. In many ways, it is a
heartbreaking film, but it also allows for the possibility of hope—and maybe
even forgiveness. Very highly recommended, Werewolf
screens again Wednesday (9/26), as part of this year’s Fantastic Fest.
