Detours on the Road Leading Towards the End of Days.

91. Time of the Wolf (Michael Haneke, 2003)

Time of the Wolf is a dystopian post-apocalyptic film from controversial director Michael Haneke and is the first of a handful of his films that are to appear on this list. The movie follows a family during a world shattering crisis and gives vague details about the state of the planet. We discover much of the water found is now contaminated by an unknown agent and that the death of livestock needs to be disposed of by burning the remains. It's a bleak existence as the family attempts to find shelter and food, as they try and find a way to continue their very survival. They ultimately end up in a small collective society living out of a train station building and Haneke's often critical eye on humanity is displayed with the interpretation of how order, subjugation, and villainy play a roll in mankind's social and power hierarchy.

Haneke, to put it lightly, is not the most accessible filmmaker today. His movies are often times distressing and even at times intentionally combative. He is a filmmaker that always has a point to address and is not ashamed to hide what he has to say, neither is he willing to deliver his pitches underhand. Films from such a director are sure to create conflicting camps. Some who applaud his views or at least his strength and dedication in presenting them (of which I'm in the latter) and those who derive no pleasure in his work at all. Though I am a reasonable fan of his films, though admirer would be a better term, I don't think I would call any of his movies enjoyable, not at least in the sense that people generally view entertainment. His movies do not seem to be produced to give what people would call enjoyment but they do make one think, and I find a lot of value in that in particular.

In Haneke's apocalyptic setting the only monsters man must face are the ones that reside in his own heart. Pettiness, greed, selfishness, and hatred are the horrors that man must overcome for their own survival, not mutated monsters or radioactive beasts. A far fiercer foe given how embedded these are into the very being of human history. Demons that could take millenniums to exorcise, ones that could perhaps never be fully destroyed. Like much of Haneke's work Time of the Wolf delves into the inner workings of the heart of humanity, and much like most of his work he's interested in the darker half of this heart. Though ironically enough Time of the Wolf, in the person of the young boy of the family in the film, displays a more hopeful glimmer from Haneke's often times cynical cinematic eye. That is if the few good men are able to cast off fear and embrace their own selflessness and sacrifice for the good of others.

10 Films of 2003:

Though it appears on my list of 100 films of the 2000s, Time of the Wolf does not however make it onto my list of ten favorite films from 2003 so look for more from that year in the posts to come.