Fable II and Canadian Cinema - Ties Between Film and Video Games

While paging through a recent issue of GameInformer magazine (http://www.gameinformer.com/default.htm), I came across a reference to Fable II indicating that the artistic design of the characters in Lionhead Studios' new Opus was based on the world created in the 2001 Canadian Film The Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups) - http://www.brotherhoodofthewolf.com/ . I immediately went to my video collection and pulled out this underground classic and watched one of the most enjoyable films to have been released in the past decade.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efhp4zx4cAU[/youtube]

For the uninitiated, this movie, featuring Samuel Le Bihan (star of French Cinema), Vincent Casell (Ocean's 12, Eastern Promises) and Mark Dacascos (Iron Chef America), melds historical fiction, martial arts and steam-punk inspired fantasy to create a visual experience that will have you sitting at the edge of your couch, jaw agape from beginning to end. By taking ques from modern Asian martial arts classics such as Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Historical Epics such as The Last of the Mohicans (sans overwrought plot and dialog) and mixing in stark visual elements reminiscent of the French Cult Classic City of Lost Children (La Cite des Ensfans Perdus), The Brotherhood of the Wolf takes you into a fantasy world that immediately brings to mind all those aspects of video games that hook us, pull us into to a story and keep us playing through virtual worlds for hours, literally salivating in anticipation at what lies beyond the next cut-scene.

The fight scenes in Brotherhood of the Wolf alone make this movie a must-own for anyone who craves intense combat depicted through the use of creative timing techniques and over-the-top, reality ripping stunt work. Through the use of inventive film editing, stop-start manipulation of time and speed and some weapons worthy of the Prince of Persia and God of War franchises, Director Christphe Gans crafts intimate, hand to hand fight sequences that create the illusion that the viewer is in the mix, perhaps even controlling the action as if actually manipulating the characters via a video game.

Playing the mostly silent, expatriated American Indian Mani, Mark Dacascos steals the show in each and every fighting sequence in which he appears. Though many may know Dacascos as the "Chairman" from the popular TV Cooking Series Iron Chef America, this classically trained martial artist (he holds competitive titles in both Kung Fu and Karate) and actor (film and TV credits include Double Dragon, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Crow - Stairway to Heaven & Stargate- Atlantis) has a long career in cinema going back over two decades. Though not one of the three primary characters in Brotherhood of the Wolf, Dacascos' depiction of Mani reminds the viewer that tangential characters such as Cole Train from Gears of War 2, Fawkes form Fallout 3 or even your trusty canine sidekick from Fable II often steal the show and can make the difference between a mediocre (or worse yet horrible) experience and the successful depiction of a new, fresh and exciting story line which can transport the viewer (or the player) to another world, time or reality.

So if you love Fable II, or even if you haven't played the game, check out Brotherhood of the Wolf and make your own comparisons between this film and the gaming hobby we all love. You will not be disappointed.