A serial killer film from Israel isn't something to be expected and as such is pretty much a sensation in itself. But what makes this really the best Israeli film of late isn't that it won so many awards or that it might be remade by Hollywood, but that it has pretty subversive undertones hidden within a story which, at first glance, plays along well trodden serial killer / suspense movie lines: The only suspect of a series of killings of young girls is being manhandled by a group of cops, then forced to let go by their chief for lack of evidence. Since the event was filmed by a witness who uploaded the video online, the leader of the pack is temporarily dismissed. He decides to go after the suspect, an unassuming teacher (of religion, on top of it), by himself. So does the father of the last victim, a secret operations army officer. They're both determined to make the teacher confess before killing him, but with conflicting means.
That doesn't just make for a good suspense movie, but it's also a thinly veiled critique of certain aspects of Israeli society. From the onset, there's abuse of authority. There are barely any female characters - the men talk to their wives on the phone, and their relationships are all in disarray. There's a recurrent motif of them neglecting the parental duty of supervising their children because they are driven by other goals. All of them (seem to) have had extreme experiences in their army days, which make them use violence with such ease that the central question of the film is: 'Who is the monster here?' And about the only normal, non-menacing character is an Arab on horseback, who doesn't really have any function besides being there. So 'Big Bad Wolves' is actually a lot more clever than the story and the title suggest, and also proof that film (and society) in Israel is very well aware of its inconsistencies, and doesn't require Western criticism to realize that it's not perfect. As such, people who feel the urge to criticize Israel should watch this film and wonder: 'Hm, maybe there's no real need for me to vocalize my TV-based disapproval of Israeli politics, they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves.'
One should perhaps watch this alongside Hany Abou-Assad's 'Omar', a highly convoluted tale of conspiracy and backstabbing among Palestinian terrorists (for some) or freedom fighters (for others), which carries a similar message: the presence of the enemy screws up men's perceptions about themselves, they become (self-)destructive without the enemy having much to do about it. In both films, everybody loses, nobody wins.
If I'm rating 'Big Bad Wolves' 7/10, then because unfortunately the film gives too much away suspense-wise. If ten seconds in the middle and the last shot were edited out, it would be a masterpiece, making everyone wonder: 'What the hell did I just see?' As it is, it's a very good suspense thriller with a lot of subtext, but you can only watch it once because there's no mystery left to decipher.
That doesn't just make for a good suspense movie, but it's also a thinly veiled critique of certain aspects of Israeli society. From the onset, there's abuse of authority. There are barely any female characters - the men talk to their wives on the phone, and their relationships are all in disarray. There's a recurrent motif of them neglecting the parental duty of supervising their children because they are driven by other goals. All of them (seem to) have had extreme experiences in their army days, which make them use violence with such ease that the central question of the film is: 'Who is the monster here?' And about the only normal, non-menacing character is an Arab on horseback, who doesn't really have any function besides being there. So 'Big Bad Wolves' is actually a lot more clever than the story and the title suggest, and also proof that film (and society) in Israel is very well aware of its inconsistencies, and doesn't require Western criticism to realize that it's not perfect. As such, people who feel the urge to criticize Israel should watch this film and wonder: 'Hm, maybe there's no real need for me to vocalize my TV-based disapproval of Israeli politics, they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves.'
One should perhaps watch this alongside Hany Abou-Assad's 'Omar', a highly convoluted tale of conspiracy and backstabbing among Palestinian terrorists (for some) or freedom fighters (for others), which carries a similar message: the presence of the enemy screws up men's perceptions about themselves, they become (self-)destructive without the enemy having much to do about it. In both films, everybody loses, nobody wins.
If I'm rating 'Big Bad Wolves' 7/10, then because unfortunately the film gives too much away suspense-wise. If ten seconds in the middle and the last shot were edited out, it would be a masterpiece, making everyone wonder: 'What the hell did I just see?' As it is, it's a very good suspense thriller with a lot of subtext, but you can only watch it once because there's no mystery left to decipher.