Four of the Best Wolf Movies to Watch

It’s that time of year when you’re confined inside during a raging winter snowstorm and reach for the TV remote to begin binge-watching. What to watch? If you love gray wolves, here are the four films we recommend you watch.

I’ll never forget my favorite wolf film of all time. Watching this film, Never Cry Wolf, brought me into the world of a family of arctic gray wolves and the man who observed them like never before! It made me realize how much humans have changed the natural world in the name of “being civilized.” This film is number one on our list of favorites.

“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.”
― Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves

Never Cry Wolf

Research scientist Tyler (Charles Martin Smith) is sent to the desolate Canadian tundra to find out whether the local wolf population is responsible for decimating Canada’s caribou herds. Helped by Ootek (Zachary Ittimangnaq), a local Inuit native, Farley manages to establish an observation post and, while braving the harsh climate, begins to study a family of wolves and the caribou. He eventually determines that the greatest danger to the caribou doesn’t move on four legs.

Director: Carroll Ballard

Writers: Farley Mowat, Curtis Hanson, Sam Hamm

Stars: Charles Martin Smith, Brian Dennehy, Zachary Ittimangnaq

Never Cry Wolf Offical Trailer

The Wolf and the Lion

Up next, at number two, comes a film that combines two iconic predators doubling the pleasure for the viewer with plenty of good old-fashioned adventure and a moral that fits today’s world. This film is for all ages! I viewed it with my children and grandchildren.

After her grandfather’s death, 20-year-old Alma decides to go back to her childhood home — a little island in the heart of a majestic forest. While there, she rescues two helpless cubs: a wolf and a lion. They forge an inseparable bond, but their world soon collapses when a forest ranger discovers the animals and takes them away. The two cubs must now embark on a treacherous journey across the wilderness to reunite with each other and Alma.

Directed by Gilles de Maistre

Cast: Molly Kunz, Graham Greene, and Charlie Carrick

The Wolf and the Lion Official Trailer

Druid Peak

Up next, at number three, is a 2014 film demonstrating how the bond between humans and wolves must never be understated. Watching this film showed me how early man could have become friends and partners with wild gray wolves, leading to the dog’s domestication.

A troubled teen is sent to live with his estranged father, where he develops a bond with a pack of wolves in a park.

Directed and written by Marni Zelnick

Cast: Spencer Treat Clark, Andrew Wilson, and Rachel Korine

Druid Peak Official Trailer

Wolf Totem

Up Next, at number four, is a film that mirrors all the plights of wolves worldwide as men push into indigenous culture’s lands and change the natural landscape forever.

Wolf Totem

Wolf Totem depicts the dying culture of the Mongols – the ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the world – and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf.

Directed and written by legendary French directorJean-Jacques Annaud

Cast: William Shao-Feng Feng, Shawn Dou, and Ankhnyam Ragchaa

Wolf Totem Offical Trailer

The following are some interesting details about two of our favorite movies. Wolf Totem and The Wolf and Lion film’s star animals were trained by Instincts Animals for Film. Check it out to learn more.