Big Bear

It's 1875 southern Saskatchewan. Cree leader Big Bear encounters a Canadian survey team and sends them away. The whites are pushing ever westward. The government signs a treaty with lesser leaders but Big Bear does not sign. As the buffalo disappear, Big Bear is forced to sign but corrupt officials and conflicts hound the tribe. Big Bear's eldest son Little Bad Man leads the warriors. In 1885, government forces lose the Battle of Duck Lake to the Metis. Little Bad Man and Wandering Spirit take control and attack.

It's a brilliant idea to have the native language be English and whites speak something incomprehensible. I would suggest more colloquial writing for the native speakers. There is still the old movie form of halting native talk. It needs to not simply translate the language but transform the language completely. That's why I love when they swear. They need modern grammar to fully convert the world view. The movie is pretty straight forward. I hope it's more or less historically accurate. It's a fine history lesson and a good TV production.

Canada just keeps getting better at making these pioneer pieces. BIG BEAR is a mini-epic that tells the story of a rebel chief who refused to accept inferior land from the Canadian government at the expense of a better, long term future for his people. Although his decision brought short term tragedies to his people and himself, his name remains synonymous with one who has enough foresight and will power to not compromise his principles. The short term tragedies are heart wrenching: the killing of dogs and horses to stave off starvation, the prostitution of young women to get meat from the powers that be, the pressure put on them by other First Nations people to accept the treaty land, and the sub plot of defending Louis Riel and the Metis. This is Gil Cardinal's best film to date. Yes, nepotism abounds: the film has more Cardinals than the Vatican. However, that this film is a quasi-family affair only accentuates the love Cardinal has put into this film. The camera work symbolism(the buffalo vanishing off the face of the earth, Big Bear's spirit shape shifting into a block of stone)all come off masterfully. Co-author Rudy Wiebe's white man "garble talk" is a nice in-joke penance to all the Hollywood films that had the Indians speaking gibberish. If you have access to CBC merchandizing, I'd recommend you pick up this mini classic and I hope you find it as rewarding as I did.

This movie is the only one I've come across so far that is filmed entirely from the Indians' point of view.

The fact that the Natives speak English and the Whites gobbledygook makes it possible for the viewer to relate to them much better than in movies where they speak native languages. Brilliant idea!

I liked that the Indians were using "White" tools and clothes. There are many movies depicting the mid- to late 1800s in which whole tribes are clad entirely in buckskin, which is not realistic because by that time, Indians had been in contact with Whites for a good 300 years.

"Big Bear" proves that you don't need loincloths and leggings to tell a compelling story about historical Indians. You need convincing characters portrayed by good actors, and "Big Bear" has those - and more.

Poor version of Canadian "western". The movie is pretty long and boring. Low budget very visible. The language swap made me think that the aboriginal actors were not able to learn their texts and their white counterparts had to do instead of them.