L'Ours

I saw only a small part of this movie on TV recently but found it compelling enough to spend an hour on the Internet trying to find out its title and then rented it as 'The Bear'.

It was worth the effort. What a refreshing change from the parade of Hollywood block busters. An orphaned bear cub is the star along with an adult Kodiak bear. They are being hunted by two men with guns and dogs in a breathtaking never ending landscape where no dialogue is needed. Appropriately, one of the few lines of dialogue has one of the hunters refer to himself as a "stupid human".

I wondered how on earth some of the shots were achieved but not too much, the story is too compelling. "The Bear" is an enchanting glimpse into a world few people ever witness and a cautionary tale for hunters everywhere.

The Bear was an art film veiled in the guise of a nature film. I never looked at the roving vistas and sharp cinematography, because when I first watched this, I was more concerned with the bear cub. This is certainly a minimalist film, but the execution was so well done, the power of the images speaks more than the occasional piece of dialogue that is spoken throughout the movie. While it can never be described as kids movie, I think kids might be interested in it due to the very National Geographic-like quality of the film (only without the voice overs). While it has been a long time since I last watched this film (about four years ago), the interesting imagery and the simple, yet meaningful story of survival will always stick with me.

Almost 20 years later, this remains the best of "animal" movies I've ever seen - where there is little dialog and animals dominate the screen. The amazing photography with the bears, the stunning cinematography overall and the great landscape (British Columbia) all make this a visual treat. Even better, it's an interesting story and has remained that with each of the viewings I've had of this film since discovering it in the mid '90s.

It's a solid adventure story, and the little bear in here is lovable. The "bad guys" (the hunters) aren't really all that bad, either. The bears' performances are fascinating, simply amazing. It must have taken incredible patience to film this movie.

Outside of a couple of "damns," there is no profanity and, I would think, is a great film for any age person to see. Highly recommended.

I have this on video but have not watched it for quite some time, the other night I watched it again and was of course entranced. The director has captured perfectly the life of the cub. If I have one gripe it is the use of a "human" voice for the emotions of the cub, in many scenes it is fairly obvious that it is a human being trying to express the emotions of the cub at the time. Secondly, while I understand the storyline of the hunters being integral to the film to be honest I felt that every scene with humans involved was boring beyond belief and I couldn't wait for it to be over. Overall this movie is a sheer joy to behold and the final scene where the cub finally goes to sleep without nightmares is pure bliss. You have to live with animals and know animals to realize how impressive this movie is and I firmly believe that the director has captured pure magic on film. Don't miss it.

A bear cub loses its mother while being fed. The orphan bear cub follows a huge male bear, being "adopted", protected and fed by the adult bear. Meanwhile, two hunters are following the big animal, which tries to evade in the mountainous forest. "The Bear" is a magnificent ecological fable, having the story developed through the eyes of the bears, which are indeed the "lead actors". I have read somewhere that it has been taken four years to Jean-Jacques Annaud prepare such a homage to the nature. Sometimes, the shooting recalls a National Geographic movie. Unfortunately the DVD released in Brazil does not have any information about the preparation of this movie. In the present days, it is hard to point out what computer makes, and what is real in a film, but it seems that the movie was shot using real trained animals. "The Bear" is another excellent work of the outstanding director Jean-Jacques Annaud and highly recommended as a perfect family entertainment and even to be presented for children in classrooms. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Urso" ("The Bear")