real story of alpha dog movie characters and real people

There’s a pleasant, old-fashioned feel to “Alpha.” It plays like one of those Disneynature movies with sharper edges, a bit more grime and a complete lack of the English language. Keda becomes more like an alpha wolf, and Alpha turns into a lupine Rin-Tin-Tin.

Slowly, the duo start to trust one another. The alpha wolf of the pack is left for dead after Keda injures it, and rather than act out of vengeance, he decides to nurse the wolf back to health. While splinting the gruesome injury that resulted from his cliff adventure, Keda is hunted by wolves who find wounded prey especially tasty. Keda’s inability to kill works out well for the wolf in this story. There are more scenes like this in “Alpha,” moments where faith and suspension of disbelief are the only things that will carry you through, but the pacing is swift enough to ward off too much contemplation before the next danger befalls our heroes. Indeed, Keda’s situation seems hopeless-an attempt to climb in either direction means almost certain death-but screenwriter Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt finds a way out that’s both gleefully unpredictable and absolutely preposterous. The cliffside ledge where Keda lands is too far for Tau to reach, so he has no choice but to mourn his son and move on. Director Albert Hughes and his editor Sandra Granovsky employ a nice flurry of quick cuts from the opening hunting sequence to bring us back to Keda’s seemingly fatal plunge. We also learn some of the tribe’s rituals that will become important pieces of shorthand later. In a quiet moment during the flashback, Tau tells Keda about the alpha wolf, the animal who leads the pack and to whom the other wolves defer. We assume Keda’s fall is part of the climax, but it’s actually the catalyst that sets the story in motion. “You must earn it!” During the hunt, which is the first of many well-staged and visually arresting set pieces, Keda’s hesitation allows him to be bested by his prey the result sends him plummeting over a steep cliff.Īs Keda falls, “Alpha” suddenly flashes back to a week before.

“Life is for the strong!” his father lectures after Keda fails to finish off a wounded animal. Greatness is expected of Keda, yet he’s a sensitive lad who has a problem with killing the animals. He is the son of Tau ( Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), the “alpha” of his people. The boy, Keda ( Kodi Smit-McPhee) is first seen bison hunting with his tribe. But let’s play the hand we’re dealt here.

Real story of alpha dog movie characters and real people