Jonathan degli orsi

The Franco Nero and Enzo Castellari collaboration is best known for Keoma, which is generally (and rightly) accepted to be one of the last great Spaghetti Westerns. Filmed twenty years later, this film - although not particularly well known or lauded - stands up to the high quality set by its predecessor.

Jonathan of the Bears continues on the racism themes noted within Keoma, concentrating on an orphan's relationship with the indians and bear that nurtured him following his parent's execution, and the "greedy" white man that has no respect for the nature or beliefs of the natives.

This film is very touching, dealing with the sensitive issue of the plight of the indians and other minority races, whilst maintaining the exciting shootouts that we expect to see in our spaghetti westerns. In particular, the opening sequence that charts the death of Jonathan's parents, and his development from man to boy - the majority of which is shot in black and white - is very moving.

It is not the easiest of films to find, but I would definitely recommend it (particularly for those people that enjoyed Keoma).

When Enzo G. Castellari and Franco Nero made "Keoma" in 1976, the Spaghetti Western genre was already well passed its glory days, and yet it was a fantastic film; - perhaps one of the best in its kind. When Castellari and Nero got back together in 1995 for "Jonathan and the Bears", the Spaghetti Western genre was even completely extinct, and they still delivered a great film! Speaking of which, I remember seeing this film in my local video store in the 90s and it had the title "Keoma II". It's not a sequel, although there are quite a few similarities. The director and lead star, obviously, but both films also have a distinct and dedicated soundtrack, and they both revolve a lone warrior fighting against injustice.

As a cherubic blond boy, Jonathan witnesses the brutal execution of his parents. Alone in the woods, he befriends a bear cub and eventually finds a home in an Indian tribe. As an adult, he helps to protect the Indian village against the white men coming to drill for oil. Because the white man comes to kill. The white man ALWAYS comes to kill.

"Jonathan of the Bears" is a great and action-packed western, with the right balance of sentiment versus cruel violence. Franco Nero is a fabulous hero, but this story particularly features a long list of awesome villains! Of all the stone-cold and merciless scoundrels John Saxon depicted in his career, and they are plenty, his character here is definitely one of the evilest. He's also surrounded by unhinged henchmen (like a religious freak) and random psychopaths, like David Hess and Rodrigo Obregon.

The film is almost half a musical as well, with a lot of great anthems sung by an actual bard on the screen (Clive Riche), which is a very original aspect in "Jonathan of the Bears". Castellari also experiments with unique camera angles, the sequences with the bears are deeply impressive, and really a lot of people spectacularly fall dead in the mud. Awesome, awesome film...shamefully undervalued!

Director Castellari reteams with star/co-producer Franco Nero in this Italo-Russian production which is a belated follow-up of sorts to their earlier, acclaimed collaboration KEOMA (1976). This newer venture shares with that earlier one not only its Western setting and a similarly grizzled, long-haired hero but also a touch of pretentiousness and a painful song score (composed by the unsympathetic minstrel figure who appears intermittently throughout)!

The film starts well enough with the black and white flashback to the hero's traumatic witnessing as a young boy of his parents' slaying by a trio of greedy badmen after their gold, while the segments featuring the boy's interaction with a playful bear cub are also quite amiable. However, we have seen the "white man among the Redskins" scenario – albeit incongruously played here by Mongols – which follows soon after (complete with their seemingly interminable quasi-mystical passages) far too often for those scenes to propose anything new. Equally predictable are David Hess' villainous overtaking of a town, Nero falling foul of Hess and his henchmen and their various confrontations; interestingly, Hess had to complete his part in a short space of time because he couldn't get along with Nero – with whom he had previously acted in HITCH-HIKE (1977).

Things are enlivened by the late entrance of powerful entrepreneur John Saxon who, with his aged group of gunslingers, wipes the town clean of Hess and their unaccountably campy rivals – a group of stud-sporting, leather-wearing, bare-chested musclemen!! Like Keoma before him, Franco Nero's character here occasionally steps outside of himself and is witness to his own past experiences as a child; also, he suffers greatly at the hands of the current villain including crucifixion. The climactic confrontation (staged, again as was KEOMA's, in a barnyard) is appropriately rousing and ends the film on a positive note which redeems some of its earlier flaws.

The two Men behind the great "Keoma," Enzo G. Castellari and Franco Nero, have here returned to familiar territory with perhaps a broader and more accessible (read: "not quite as good") vision of much the same character. Or at least he has the same hat.

While "Jonathan Degli Orsi" doesn't have the uncompromising, feverish fantasy feel of its predecessor, it is perfectly convincing in its chosen setting, a forested wilderness about to be exploited by a would-be oil magnate (John Saxon) that is currently inhabited by an Indian tribe and their sacred burial ground. Enter Jonathan (Nero), an orphaned white man of Polish descent who has been raised by bears and the aforementioned tribe. After leaving his adoptive family to seek revenge for his parents' murder, a quest which has brought him face to face with the futility of his rage, he returns to his true people, the ones who raised him, only to find them under attack by the world he wants nothing to do with.

And what do you think he does?

This film could be seen as Castellari and Nero's answer to the previous year's "Unforgiven," as it both pays tribute to and meditates on themes of the Western genre; the meditation is coming from a similarly aged and wisened point of view. For my money, this particular meditation/tribute is more clever, more accomplished and has a much wider scope. It is beautifully filmed, excellently acted, and superbly written. It has a soundtrack that, while not having much to do with Spaghetti Westerns, enhances the story quite well. In one way it improves over "Keoma" in that it contains songs with lyrics that actually COMPLIMENT the film rather than taking away from it.

This film's winks and nods to the by-gone "Spaghetti" genre are all quite clever; some of them made me laugh out loud. Watch as Castellari actually provides a real-world explanation for the mysterious fog that always rolls in for the climactic shoot-out. There's also a great scene that I'm sure was meant to evoke "Django the Bastard" as well as plenty of references to the director's own "Keoma." What's really cool, though, is that this film doesn't try to BE a Spaghetti Western while doing this. It finds its own place in the scheme of things. It very much feels like a nineties kind of film, but a damn good one.

Castellari's Peckinpah-style action has come a long way and is a pleasure to watch. The actor who plays Jonathan as a child is quite good and has an uncanny charisma. I would definitely urge fans of "Keoma," Castellari and Nero to seek out this rather difficult-to-find film. Like I said, I was not disappointed.

I would also encourage fans of "Dances With Wolves" type dramas to check out this one and see how it ought to be done.

They don't make movies like this anymore as they don't make them in the 90's, cuz when this came out the genre was dead and buried 20 years before. So the fact two giants of spaghetti western, director Castellari and actor Franco Nero, returned for a last Hurrà its enough to forgive and forget the many flaws of the movie. Nostalgic.