The Bear (1988)Where man hunts for sport, the animal hunts for survival, and is also sometimes the hunted. The Bear (1988) is the story of a bear cub--played by an actual bear cub named Youk--whose mother is killed in a rock slide, leaving him orphaned. After a hunter named Tom (Tchéky Karyo) wounds another male grizzly bear--played by a bear named Bart--Youk crosses paths with Bart, who eventually becomes a guardian to the younger cub, teaching him how to survive in the wild, while Tom and his colleagues continue their bear hunt.
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Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, The Bear is a visually driven movie with little dialogue. Most of the action concerns the bears and other wildlife, and the hunters dialogue is only rarely relevant. As a result, The Bear is similar to Annaud's earlier film, Quest for Fire, where the meaning of the language was less important than its implications and the intonations of it. Unlike Quest for Fire, the bears are not actors; the implied feelings and suggestion of subtext in Youk and Bart comes from sharp editing, cinematography, and direction instead. Since most of the film is centered around non-human protagonists, the audience is encouraged to apply their own emotional understanding to the scenes involving the bears, meaning that one audience may interpret one scene a little bit differently than another. Consider one of the earliest scenes in which the impending rock slide infuses the scene between Youk and his mother with dramatic tension, and Youk frantically tries to unearth his mother from beneath boulders which are far too heavy for his small paws to move. In his sorrow, he witnesses a fluttering butterfly fly away from the body of his mother, and there is the suggestion that his mother's soul has transitioned into the butterfly. When Youk first encounters Bart, the older bear grows impatient with the prodding of the lonely and concerned cub--note that Bart has just been shot; Youk eventually wins him over by tending to his wound and with his guileless innocence. The Bear is not a documentary-styled movie, but rather a drama featuring bears as main characters. The Bear invites empathy with the wildlife because audiences will instinctively apply emotional attributes to the bears, underscoring the film's larger message about respect for all living things. Bart shares his fish with Youk and even teaches him how to hunt elk, but their killing is done exclusively for survival, a sentiment not shared by Tom and his skilled hunting companion, credited as Bill (Jack Wallace). The hunters are not cruel men, but since they hunt for sport, they are thrust into the role of the antagonists. Unlike Bill, Tom is inexperienced and even reckless; when he is first introduced, he is staring down the barrel of his own rifle, implying a lack of awareness about the seriousness of hunting and death. There's a foolish arrogance to Tom, from his ostentatious bear-engraved rifle to pointlessly aiming his rifle at the full moon, while propping his bullets upright like little monoliths. Tom's ineptitude is to Bart's benefit when he hastily shoots the bear in the shoulder, which only spook hims and lets him escape. The night after Bill departs to bring additional supplies, the visibly scared Tom panics, firing his rifle into the dark to ward off any would-be predators. It's clear that Tom is more afraid of the bears than they are of him.
The most compelling scenes in The Bear focus on the animal life instead of the hunters. Youk is blessed with an abundance of cuteness, like when he frolics in the meadow with a frog, imitating its hopping, or when he clumsily tries to cross the river while following Bart, and slips into the water, getting saturated in the process. Bart makes a reasonably adequate guardian to Youk, although at one point he slips off to conduct a mating ritual, leaving the cub unattended and comically indulging in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Most scenes in The Bear are without special effects; the exceptions are the aforementioned psychedelic "trip" Youk experiences and a pair of stop-motion animated dreams he has, including one about his mother. These scenes reinforce that The Bear is from Youk's perspective more than a passive observation about wildlife in general. The Bear proudly opens by declaring that any depictions of violence toward animals are simulated, and closes with a quote by J.O Curtwood--who wrote the novel "The Grizzly King", which was adapted into this film: "the greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live". The Bear argues that because we recognize human-like qualities in the bears, there is no difference in their right to live a life free of dogged pursuit and our own--that like humans, these animals possess a "soul". The Bear is also a story about maturity; Youk is largely dependent on Bart for most of the film, but must stand up for himself at the film's climax when he is hunted by a ravenous puma. Even Tom, who is the youngest of the hunters, finds enlightenment in his failed hunt for Bart, forced to reevaluate his perspective about wildlife and the value of their lives.
Recommended for: Fans of an animal film set in the mountainous wilderness, telling the story of a pair of bears struggling to survive in spite of being hunted. The Bear avoids unneeded exposition and allows the audience the freedom to apply their own interpretation of the bears' feelings simply by observing them and engendering sympathy with them over the course of the film.
The most compelling scenes in The Bear focus on the animal life instead of the hunters. Youk is blessed with an abundance of cuteness, like when he frolics in the meadow with a frog, imitating its hopping, or when he clumsily tries to cross the river while following Bart, and slips into the water, getting saturated in the process. Bart makes a reasonably adequate guardian to Youk, although at one point he slips off to conduct a mating ritual, leaving the cub unattended and comically indulging in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Most scenes in The Bear are without special effects; the exceptions are the aforementioned psychedelic "trip" Youk experiences and a pair of stop-motion animated dreams he has, including one about his mother. These scenes reinforce that The Bear is from Youk's perspective more than a passive observation about wildlife in general. The Bear proudly opens by declaring that any depictions of violence toward animals are simulated, and closes with a quote by J.O Curtwood--who wrote the novel "The Grizzly King", which was adapted into this film: "the greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live". The Bear argues that because we recognize human-like qualities in the bears, there is no difference in their right to live a life free of dogged pursuit and our own--that like humans, these animals possess a "soul". The Bear is also a story about maturity; Youk is largely dependent on Bart for most of the film, but must stand up for himself at the film's climax when he is hunted by a ravenous puma. Even Tom, who is the youngest of the hunters, finds enlightenment in his failed hunt for Bart, forced to reevaluate his perspective about wildlife and the value of their lives.
Recommended for: Fans of an animal film set in the mountainous wilderness, telling the story of a pair of bears struggling to survive in spite of being hunted. The Bear avoids unneeded exposition and allows the audience the freedom to apply their own interpretation of the bears' feelings simply by observing them and engendering sympathy with them over the course of the film.