Mark Reviews Movies: THE WOLF HOUSE

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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 14, 2020

Most filmmakers want the seams and process of their craft to be invisible, but that's not the case with co-directors Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña's The Wolf House. The film, a meta-allegory about a real-life criminal cult, wants us to see how it was made. The results are equal parts fascinating, hypnotic, and unsettling.

The larger story proposes that this animated fable was made by members of an unnamed colony of German settlers in Chile. The place is undeniably based on the notorious Colonia Dignidad, which was founded in 1961 by then-accused child molester Paul Schäfer, who would be convicted—with more than 20 of his cult members—of child abuse over 40 years later. This is important to know, if only because the screenplay, written by the directors and Alejandra Moffat, presents the whole of the film as a faux piece of propaganda, meant to portray the colony in a positive light.

Within this framework is a tale in the vein of an old-fashioned folk story. A girl named María (voice of Amalia Kassai) has escaped the colony. In the forest, she is pursued by a wolf (voice of Rainer Krausse) but finds shelter in an abandoned house. There, she discovers two pigs, which she magically transforms into human children.

The entirety of this fable is told in an ingenious way. Using paint and puppets, the filmmakers, reflecting the story's central theme of transformation, convert a house into a living canvas.

Characters are painted on the walls, and by way of stop-motion photography, they come to life. Backdrops are created in the same way, and we can observe the trails of black paint, as the artists cover up the creations of the previous frames (One key moment, making the sinister nature of the colony clear, has a swastika turning into a window frame). Rudimentary puppets, made of papier-mâché and other materials, form in front of us and move in jittery motions with the aid of visible string and tape.

While the aesthetic may look almost childish, the technique is far from it. We know this because we're able to see how it was done as the film is in motion. In its overall presentation, the craft of The Wolf House becomes inherently eerie. It's if we're watching a twisted mind or minds twisted by their evil leader try to justify humanity's worst impulses and actions.

Note: The Wolf House is receiving a virtual theatrical release from distributor KimStim. You can choose to support a local independent theater (e.g., Facets in Chicago) with your rental purchase. For more information and to access the film, click here. Participating theaters are listed on the page.

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