I know some of you seen the other thread of "The skin of the wolf", I watched it today and wanted to offer a review with some of my thoughts and encourage others to watch this movie which is currently on Netflix. There will be spoilers so this is for those who have already seen the movie or those who want to watch it and appreciate it from my perspective.
Firstly if you are looking for a drama with edge of your seat excitement this is not for you, likewise if you are looking to see a lot of trapping this is not for you. If you however enjoy archetypal stories that require some deep thought on your part you may really love this movie.
The movie is filmed in the Spanish Pyrenees and the location is beautiful, in addition to the landscape the buildings are works of art in their own right, take some time to enjoy the stone buildings that were so carefully put together by our brothers across the Atlantic. The story revolves around a hunter/trapper named Martinon, Martinon is a man of the wilderness who lives 2 days away from the closest village and makes his living trapping and hunting wolves. When Martinon goes to town to sell his wolves he sells them to the Mayor, this suggest he is trapping partially for bounties on the wolves in a effort to keep them away from the village and the vulnerable "civilized" people who live there, Martinon to me represents the people at the fringes of society who do hard things to keep others safe, these type of people are often feared and loathed even by the people they are protecting (think of a cop who shoots a dangerous criminal and civilians criticizing him for it). I think this is a important point to reflect on, there are people who do hard jobs that make our societies better, these people often carry a heavy toll and for the most part society overlooks them or downright despises them.
In a effort to keep this short I will move on in a hurry. After Martinon sells his furs he buys a wife (common practice in many areas to this day). The wife he buys turns out to be pregnant with a child who is not his and in addition she is sick, despite this Martinon cares for her to the best of his ability, despite his efforts the woman and child die. Martinon mourns but his sadness is overcome by anger, he brings his deceased wife and her child back down to the village and blames the womans father for her death. There are a few observations I would like to make about this, first the womans father is a weak, deceitful man who should have known better than to send his ill and pregnant daughter to the wilderness, second, comfort and civilization make us weak, if the lights ever go out we will die in mass, we should all be making efforts to become more in touch with our baser self, we must find our inner animal.
The father not wanting to risk his life by displeasing Martinon offers his youngest daughter to be his wife. After the wedding the weak, deceitful father gives his daughter poisoness herbs and instructs her to use them on Martinon "if it becomes unbearable". Though Martinon is no Romeo he does his best to provide and care for his new wife and upon learning she is pregnant he becomes even more caring, despite his care Martinons new wife begins poisoning him and while he is ill and out hunting she attempts to run away. When Martinon learns she is gone he searches for her and finds her the next day nearly dead, he brings her back and nurses her back to health, he notices she has miscarried and this saddens him, he continues to care for her until she is healthy and then he informs her she may leave, she ask him "why" and he replies "the days grow short", he knows he is dying. After his wife leaves him he continues to grow more ill, he eventually finds the herbs she used to poison him with, again he is saddened and the movie ends with him lying in bed awaiting death.
There is a ton of things going on here but I want to touch on the ones I see as important, mainly that his wife betrays him. He loved her and cared for her the best he could, he was preparing for their child they had a future yet she runs away to seek the excitement and comfort of "town". In the end this would cost her the life of her child, how often do we see this in modern times? Women leaving their husbands to be "strong and independent" single moms, study after study exposes how much worse kids from single parent homes do in life yet women initiate 80% of divorce, though I am pro abortion (for my own reasons) I cant help but think of women killing their own children because they are so selfish and worried about their own future. The fact that this woman kills Martinon I think shows that civilization cannot coexist with the natural world, civilization will always seek to destroy the natural state, look how many acres of row crop "deserts" we have just to feed our overpopulated world, were civilization goes death to nature follows, those who attempt to scorn the comforts of civilization and live in a natural state will be looked down on by the corporate wage slaves who long for nothing but material comforts.
I just realized how long this is, I hope someone finds it worth while to read. I would encourage everyone to watch and really think deep about this film.
