History Film / Alpha2018

* MisplacedWildlife: The bison seen in the trailer appear to be the North American exclusive Long-Horned Bison, although they could also be steppe bison (''Bison priscus'') which was found in both Eurasia and the Americas.

Not to be confused with ''Film/AlphaDog''.

* DogDiesAtTheEnd: [[spoiler:Averted. Alpha comes close, nearly succumbing to her wounds from the cave lion fight and actually lying down to die near the climax, but Keda gets her home in time for the tribe to save her and her pups.]]

* ABoyAndHisX: A story of the very first A Boy And His Dog. The film itself is tells the story of how the InterspeciesFriendship of humans and canines began.

%% * ABoyAndHisX: A story of the very first A Boy And His Dog; i.e. humans domesticating wild dogs. %% Add more context to describe their relationship and what effect it has on them. %%

* ABoyAndHisX: A story of the very first A Boy And His Dog; i.e. humans domesticating wild dogs.

* AnnoyingArrows: Averted most of the time, but played straight as the bison can shrug off ''spears'', say nothing of arrows.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Can be seen as one to ''Film/QuestForFire''. It invokes a similar atmosphere with the prehistoric setting and the [[SceneryPorn sweeping scenery]], the characters use the same method of starting fire that the Ivaka used and it chronicles another major step in human development (domesticating dogs as opposed to domesting fire). It even has a similar scene where the protagonist is trapped in a tree by [[SuperPersistentPredator predators that stick atound far longer than real predators reasonably would]]. Even the sabre-toothed cats seen in the film resemble the [[{{Slurpasaur}} dressed up lions]] from it's predecessor. Given the relative time periods of both films, ''Alpha'' can even be seen as a distant future sequel.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: The film features cave hyenas, which are rarely seen in media and documentaries, as well as steppe bison and a cave lion.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: If the sabertooth seen in the trailer really is a ''Smilodon'' as indicated by its size, it should have a short bobcat-like tail instead of the long tiger-like one it has in the film, not to mention that [[MisplacedWildlife none of the three species were found in Europe]]. Alternatively, it could be a ''Machairodus'', which was just as large and actually did live in Europe - except that the last members of this genus [[AnachronismStew died out during the middle Pleistocene]], millennia before the film's time period of 20,000 years ago.
** According to the visual effects supervisor the species is a [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BqiCgdzn7T1/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=d20gmt68vj7d cave lion]]. The cave lion did inhabit Europe during this time, but didn't have those saber teeth.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: The film features cave hyenas, which are rarely seen in media and documentaries.

* PantheraAwesome: A saber-toothed cat is shown threatening Keda, looking more like [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology a mane-less lion with giant fangs]] than an actual sabertooth (save for the more primitive ''Machairodus'', which went extinct [[AnachronismStew thousands of years prior]]).

** It's both this and [[SpiritualAntithesis a kind of opposite]] to ''Film/TheRevenant'', both films are survival stories set in harsh, [[SceneryPorn sweeping winter landscapes]] about a character who's horribly injured and left for dead by his people after a hunting expedition goes wrong, and both of them fall off cliffs. Aside from the difference in their settings (prehistoric Europe vs. 18th century America), they differ in that ''The Revenant'' is the story of a father injured by a predator animal (a bear), hunting down the evil men who killed his son and abandoned him to die, while ''Alpha'' is the story of a son, injured by a prey animal (a bison), whose father reluctantly leaves his son when there's no possibility of rescue and mistakenly believes he's dead, and ultimately has NoAntagonist other than the brutality of nature himself.

** It's both this and [[SpiritualAntithesis a kind of opposite]] to ''Film/TheRevenant'', both films are survival stories set in harsh, [[SceneryPorn sweeping winter landscapes]] about a character who's horribly injured and left for dead by his people after a hunting expedition goes wrong, and both of them fall off cliffs. Aside from the difference in their settings (prehistoric Europe vs. 18th century America), they differ in that ''The Revenant'' is the story of a father hunting down the evil men who killed his son and abandoned him to die, while ''Alpha'' is the story of a son whose father reluctantly leaves his son when there's no possibility of rescue and mistakenly believes he's dead, and ultimately has NoAntagonist other than the brutality of nature himself.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Can be seen as one to ''Film/QuestForFire''. It invokes a similar atmosphere with the prehistoric setting and the [[SceneryPorn sweeping scenery]], the characters use the same method of starting fire that the Ivaka used and it chronicles another major step in human developement (domesticating dogs as opposed to domesting fire). It even has a similar scene where the protagonist is trapped in a tree by [[SuperPersistentPredator predators that stick atound far longer than real predators reasonably would]]. Even the sabre-toothed cats seen in the film resemble the [[{{Slurpasaur}} dressed up lions]] from it's predecessor. Given the relative time periods of both films, ''Alpha'' can even be seen as a distant future sequel.

* MisplacedWildlife: The saber-toothed cat featured in the trailer appears to be either a ([[ArtisticLicensePaleontology long-tailed]]) ''Smilodon'', which were only found in North and South America, or the [[SeldomSeenSpecies more obscure]] ''Machairodus'' which, although native to Europe in the case of at least one species, likely lived in open grasslands rather than in the cave the cat is seen inside (at least in the trailer). The bison seen in the trailer also appear to be the North American exclusive Long-Horned Bison, although they could also be steppe bison (''Bison priscus'') which was found in both Eurasia and the Americas.

* ConLang: Unlike the trailer which had an English voice-over narration by Keda, the entire film is spoken on a primitive dialect that sounds close to [=Proto-IndoEuropean=] with subtitles, just like ''VideoGame/FarCryPrimal''.

* CanineCompanion: Keda and his wolf become close friends during the movie, the film itself is billed as telling the story of how the friendship between humans and canines began thousands of years ago.
* ConLang: Unlike the trailer which had an English voice-over narration by Keda, the entire film is spoken on a primitive dialect that sounds close to [=Proto-IndoEuropean=] with subtitles; just like ''VideoGame/FarCryPrimal''.

* NatureIsNotNice: Prehistoric humanity is hanging on tenterhooks, with their crude weapons being ineffective against many threats and predators snatching humans straight from the campfire with impunity. All of which gets worse when Keda is left alone. It makes the aversion with the wolf befriending Keda that much more profound.

* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: Only after Keda and Alpha have completed the journey do we find that Alpha is a female wolf; and the reason she wouldn't walk the final leg of the journey was that she was about to give birth to a litter of pups.]]

* InterspeciesAdoption: [[spoiler: The shaman/wise woman/etc. delivers Alpha's pups, lifts them up and says, "We welcome you to our tribe.]]

* YourTomcatIsPregnant: [[spoiler:At the end, it's revealed that Alpha is a female, and she gives birth to a litter of pups]].

Set in Europe 20,000 B.C., it follows the adventures of a young hunter named Keda who, after a hunting expedition goes awry, is left for dead by the rest of his tribe; after waking up alone in the wild, he forms a bond with a wolf that has been cast out from its pack. He eventually gives the wolf a name that translates to "Alpha" in modern English, and together they must survive the harsh, cold environment, thereby forming the first steps for the human-canine InterspeciesFriendship that would last for millennia.

* NobleWolf: The wolf that forms a bond with Keda, Alpha, is quite and protective of him once they bond.

* SceneryPorn: And how! The cinematography features gorgeous shots of the unspoiled landscape, the night sky filled with stars, and the Northern lights.