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Alpha promo poster
As long as I can remember, my 10-year-old daughter has been obsessed with dogs—particularly their wolf ancestors. She and her beloved mostly-lab, Biscuit, howl together in her room to catch up after she’s been away for any length of time, it’s that sort of bond. And kids like her are exactly who Alpha was made for.
Set in the last Ice Age and focusing on a small tribe of hunter-gatherers, Alpha follows the harrowing journey of Keda, a young man (seemingly in his teens) who must find a way to return home after being mistakenly abandoned in the wilderness by his tribe’s hunting party. Left with nothing except the clothes on his back and a broken leg, he must quickly adapt and survive, with the unexpected help of a wolf he wounded in the process.
The cinematography throughout, particularly the majestic shots of animals moving in slow motion against expansive sunsets, were breathtaking. An unknown language is spoken, making the movie’s extensively subtitled dialogue difficult to follow for those who can’t read well, or at all. For older, more experienced readers, it adds to the authenticity of the story and encourages a welcome focus on the stunning natural vistas and interactions between boy and wolf that make the movie so appealing in the first place.
With a runtime of 97 minutes, Alpha is rated PG-13 for scenes of intense peril. It has decidedly darker moments that might scare younger ones, but Director Albert Hughes offers a realistic portrait of threats to survival faced by prehistoric people with an eye for hiding the worst of it from the kids. Particularly if you have dog lovers in your family, this film has some great conversation starters about family, companionship, survival and the reasons why dogs will long be known as mankind’s best friend.