The Reading Palette

There’s something about movies set in cold, snowy locations that binds them together in spirit. Revenge, suffering, bloodshed and a sense of impending doom pervades them all. Having watched ‘Cold Pursuit’ and ‘The Revenant,’ I included ‘Hold The Dark’ in my watchlist. It has been on Netflix for more than six years now.

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, ‘Hold the Dark’ is based on the novel of the same name written by William Giraldi. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released by Netflix on September 28, 2018. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Jeffrey Wright, Riley Keough and James Badge Dale in lead roles.

The movie had a strong start. Set in Alaska’s heart of darkness, the film begins with Medora Slone calling Russell Core, who spent a year among wolves and wrote a book on wolf behaviour, to kill the she-wolf that took her six-year-old son, Bailey. Her husband Vernon Slone doesn’t know and is away serving in the army.

It becomes sluggish and painfully mysterious as it moves forward losing grip on its loose ends. The acting is average. The characters seem stiff (must be the cold), trying too hard to create a mystery that underwhelms.

Ambiguity is infused in every scene and the audience is left to untie the knots that refuse to be opened. Critics and viewers alike, have come out with various theories regarding the significance of each plot point in the film. The book makes much more sense than the film does.

Before Bailey, two other children were also taken by the wolves. The thing I found intriguing is that she is very sure that it’s a she-wolf. Why doesn’t she just say ‘wolf?’

During his stay, Core witnesses strange happenings. At night, Medora lies naked with Core and tries to get him to strangle her. This is her showing that she is the she-wolf. A native woman tells Core that Medora is evil. They say she is possessed by a she-demon, a tournaq, and her blood is cursed. Core finds Bailey’s frozen body in the cabin and Medora has run away. The only reason she called Core in the first place was because she wanted someone to witness her story.         She didn’t want to be lost in oblivion. The police arrives at the Slone’s cabin and Vernon is back. He and his Yup’ik friend Cheeon (whose daughter was the second child taken by the wolves) go on a murdering rampage. Cheeon makes a bloodbath in an encounter with the police and Vernon kills everyone who he thinks might be involved in his son’s death. He eventually finds Medora and the two set away from civilization dragging their son’s body in a coffin with them.

Vernon and Medora are siblings. They are twins. Their child is the result of incest. It is very subtle in the movie but explicitly stated in the book. They both look Nordic. They have the same hair and the same nose. Their father thought Vernon was ‘unnatural’ and took him to an Indian hunter to get wolf’s oil as an old witch had told them that it would cure him. Vernon, in his search for Medora goes to the same inn he stayed at with his father. The innkeeper recognises him and she tells him that Medora had stayed there a few days ago. Vernon eventually kills the Indian hunter and gets shot in the shoulder when the old innkeeper starts firing at him. He goes to another childhood friend of Cheeon and him, Shan. Shan removes the bullet from his shoulder but then attempts to rat him out to the police for the reward. Vernon stabs him in the head. He finds Medora in a cave of hot spring. He almost strangle her but then makes out with her.

The reason why Medora killed her own son is unclear. It is very likely she believed that the existence of the child is unnatural as it is shown in the book that she was very upset when he was born. Her mother refused to look at him. Vernon, on the other hand, loved his boy deeply. Perhaps she wanted to end her own guilt of incest. She tells Core that her husband left her in this cold place with a sick child. So maybe she was tired of taking care of him. The villagers are not at all astonished. Mothers are known to kill their children, especially girls, in a lot of tribes.

In a flashback scene, Vernon and Bailey go hunting and Bailey kills a deer. When Vernon asks how did it feel, Bailey replies ‘It felt real good.’ It is odd and a bit concerning for a child of Bailey’s age to take pride in hunting animals. Was Bailey the one killing the children? Was that the reason Medora had to kill him? Their village community was like a wolf pack and she had to kill one in order to save the others.

Vernon and Medora do show wolfish tendencies but them being werewolves is not a plausible explanation for their behaviours. They have ‘wolf spirit’ and are primal in their urges.

Vernon murders everyone except Core. Even the wolves spare his life. This is because he understands them. He spent one year living among wolves, knowing them and also killed a she-wolf because he had to. He is the only one who comes out alive through the ordeal.

The film is also a critique of colonial and urban civilization. The natives and those living outside the city limits live on the margins of law and order. Much of Cheeon’s anger and the suicidal bloody riot arose because of the police’s lack of efforts in finding his daughter’s dead body. No one is looking out for them. All they have is their small village community that has its own conflicts and struggles. They have to make everything right all by themselves.

Do you like thriller movies? What kind of films do you prefer to see? Let us know in the comment section.