By Although containing its fair share of violence – some of which undeniably falls into the realm of gratuitous – a paedophile rapist-serial killer movie made in Israel during the first half of the 2010s somewhat surprisingly looks at aspects of modern family dynamics. It also, despite its repellent subject matter, has a dark sense of humour.
There are two elements at work in Aharon Keshales’ and Navot Papushado’s brutal 2013 Israeli murder thriller Big Bad Wolves which give it the dubious distinction of being stand-alone torture porn.
First, at its grim heart, a good portion of the movie is about fatherhood and the responsibilities it entails.
Second – regardless of the film’s horrific subject matter – there are moments during its 110 minute running time when it is sardonically funny.
This is not because of the nature of the violence, which in this instance is far from the sometimes pseudo-slapstick pain and bloodletting one might usually associate with this sort of work.
Rather, it stems from the fact a good portion of the repartee between the movie’s four leads is oddly amusing – even when the surroundings are far from viewer-friendly.
Naturally, in a movie where the centrepiece is the extended torture of a suspected paedophile serial killer, the sometimes guilt-ridden bond between the male parent and his kin is not exactly functional.
However, amongst the on-screen carnage, the importance of this relationship still manages to come to the fore. In turn, this provides some unlikely links between the titular wolves, making the movie far more nuanced than other entries in torture porn’s canon.
Thus, what initially appears to be a crazily bizarre set of circumstances involving a raped and murdered school girl with a missing head, the chief suspect, a rogue cop, a psychotic father hell bent on finding his daughter’s decapitated body part and the victim’s just-as-sadistically bonkers grandfather, effectively becomes a race against the clock when – during the ensuring interrogation of the alleged killer – the seeds of doubt are sown (albeit not entirely) in the mind of one of the tormentors as the torture becomes more intense and the situation spirals out of control.
And to Keshales’ and Papushado’s credit, who also wrote the screenplay, one is kept guessing until the very end wherein the truth lies – even if a couple of brief developments in the movie’s first half almost circumvent the logic of this dramatic turn.
Grim circumstances
Having established the child’s kidnapping during a modestly ominous set of opening credits, Big Bad Wolves begins in earnest when a thuggish police detective Micki (Lior Ashkenazi), along with some overzealous colleagues (Guy Adler and Arthur Perry*), try to bash a confession for a spate of killings out of the seemingly timid school teacher Dror (Rotem Keinan) in an abandoned building.
When this illegal interrogation, which includes the use of a telephone book, appears on You Tube after being secretly recorded by a teenage boy (Ariel Kruszyn) on his cell phone, Micki is suspended by Police Commissioner Tsvika (Dvir Benedek), while Dror is also temporarily stood down from his classroom duties by a sympathetic Principal Meir (Ami Weinberg).
Undeterred, the rogue cop continues to trail the teacher with the ultimate goal of kidnapping him and obtaining an admission of guilt. Unbeknown to both, they are being watched by Gidi (Tzahi Grad), the latest victim’s father, who is keen to retrieve his daughter’s missing head.
Ultimately, the three men end up in Gidi’s just-purchased isolated rustic home, where the large basement is used to host Dror’s eventual interrogation – a process involving finger breaking, toenail extraction and a blow torch “fire test” before the piece de resistance – removal of the suspect’s noggin using a rusty saw.
For the alleged murderer there is no way out, with the aggrieved father telling the teacher he can either “die like the scum you are, or to die after redeeming yourself”.
While Micki initially agrees to go along with Gidi’s plan, he eventually tires of the sadistic methodology being applied – his opposition eventually being rewarded with a pistol whipping and handcuffed incarceration.
This scenario is further complicated when Gidi’s father Yoram (Dov Glickman), a former military man, turns up with a pot of his wife’s soup under the impression his son – who earlier tells his mother Malka (the voice of Rivka Michaeli) over the phone that he has a cold – is sick.
At first it seems the old man seems reasonable. But when he finds out what’s going on in the basement, he does not protest too much; rather, he loyally joins forces with his grown boy and suggests they beef up the brutality.
Thus the wolves’ lair is split in half as the policeman sides with the murder suspect in order to escape this pair of father-son sadists.
Links established
Aside from the fact Micki and Dror eventually share a common enemy, it is made clear during the first third of the narrative that they are men of similar circumstances.
On top of being suspended from their jobs because of a You Tube clip, both also have young daughters and are separated from their wives.
Moreover, they share a strong resolve – despite Micki’s attempts to extract a confession from Dror through the use of increasingly excessive violence, the teacher steadfastly refuses to capitulate, meaning the audience is kept guessing until the end of the movie if the policemen actually does have his man.
Meanwhile, the bond between Gidi and Yoram proves blood is thicker than water; apart from the fact the old man willingly accepts his son’s tortuous intentions with minimal questions, it turns out they really are on the same mean-spirited page once they team up in the basement.
There is also a connection between Gidi (who too is separated from his wife), Micki and Dror – while it’s suggested, through phone conversations with their unseen estranged partners, that the policeman and murder suspect have been somewhat negligent regarding their family duties, it turns out their host is also guilty of similar neglect when he tells Yoram he didn’t collect his daughter from school on the day she disappeared because he was enjoying a sexual tryst with his secretary.
Given there are a number of similarities between the these four wolves, it’s not surprising they share some darkly humourous exchanges during the course of the movie – initially between Micki and his captor, and then betwixt the sadistic father and son, whose good natured rapport becomes obvious shortly after the old man rocks up with the soup during the film’s second half.
(This parent-sibling motif is also briefly used earlier in the narrative when Zvika has junior [Arik, played by Yuval Nadborany] with him in his office as part of the “Bring Your Child to Work” day.)
Funny bone
When looking at all of this on paper, it is difficult to see how a movie like Big Bad Wolves, with its focus on child rape, murder and torture, can provide any laughs, let alone a few chuckles.
But it does, thanks essentially to the performances of Grad, Glickman and Ashkenazi, who all work well together during the film’s moments of grim brevity.
In this regard Grad’s Gidi actually steals the show with his ruthless efficiency and menacing string of one liners (“Maniacs are afraid of maniacs,” he rationalises to Micki before they go downstairs to begin the interrogation), although it must be noted here that Keinan (who looks a bit like a young Bob Balaban) is pretty convincing as the victimised teacher who is being put through an extremely painful wringer.
Glickman’s Yoram also has his moments, at one point confusing Micki for Dror (“How could I confuse the two? he apologetically asks his son. “It never used to happen to me. It’s age. It does terrible things to the mind.”), while at another trying to talk Gidi out of his mission by suggesting it would upset his mother (“It will kill her,” he insists).
As for Ashkenazi’s Micki, aside from tasering Dror’s small dog in a park during one of the movie’s quietly cruel moments, he too shows his comic side when confronted at night by a mysterious Arab on a horse (Kais Nashif) after escaping from the torture basement.
Throwing his arms in the air as an impulsive act of surrender, the policemen quickly realises the stranger means no harm.
“Why do you Jews always think that we all want to kill you?” the horseman asks.
“You know how it is,” he matter-of-fact replies.
Cruelness justified
For some, there will be a lot not to like about Big Bad Wolves – after all paedophilia, murder, sadism and brutal torture are far from pleasant subjects.
Furthermore, as suggested above, the twist ending is kind of compromised by a development early in the film which – when looked at rationally – doesn’t help the narrative’s cause.
This is a pity as, had these short scenes not been included (and let’s face it – they could easily have been cut out without upsetting anything) the kicker ending would have strengthened the argument that brutality, while at times unbearable and morally reprehensible, can also be dramatically justifiable.
Nevertheless, from Keshales’ and Papushado’s confident direction to the lead performances and Giora Bejach’s beautifully lit and fluid cinematography, Big Bad Wolves remains something of a dubious standout – it’s a work that shows, when done properly, torture porn can sometimes have its day.
FOOTNOTE
*At least this is who I think it is.
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