The Bear (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Bear (Ours, L') | |
|---|---|
 The Bear |
|
| Directed by | Jean-Jacques Annaud |
| Produced by | Claude Berri |
| Written by | James Oliver Curwood (novel) Gérard Brach (screenplay) |
| Starring | Bart the Bear Youk the Bear Tchéky Karyo |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
| Cinematography | Philippe Rousselot |
| Editing by | Noëlle Boisson |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  October 19 1988 October 25, 1989 |
| Running time | 94 min (1:34) |
| Country | France, U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $31,753,898 (USA domestic) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
For The Raymond Briggs adaptation see The Bear (1999 film)
The Bear, known as L'Ours in its original French release, is a film directed by acclaimed French director Jean-Jacques Annaud released theatrically in 1988. The screenplay is by Gérard Brach and it was adapted from the novel The Grizzly King by American author and conservationist James Oliver Curwood. Fittingly, the movie carries this spirit by voicing conservationist themes.
The film is set in late 19th century British Columbia British Columbia, Canada Canada. The main character is an orphaned bear cub who ends up befriending an older grizzly. The main action of the plot is driven by two hunters who are after the adult bear and the young bear cub gets caught in the middle.
The film is unique in the sense that the main characters are animals and the two human actors are for the most part merely supporting features in the film; dialogue is extremely limited. The strong points of the film are its outstanding cinematography and moving depiction of nature and animal interactions. It did not achieve much commercial success upon its North American release but it was a success in France[1].
The film was shot in the Dolomites.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
 |
The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
In 19th century British Columbia, a grizzly bear cub romps around as his beloved mother looks for honey. The mother searches for honey in a bees' nest located at the base of a tree, above which is a rock outcrop. As result of her digging, the mother bear loosens the rocks from the outcrop which tumble down upon her, crushing her to death. The now orphaned cub stays by his mother's body, refusing to leave her. After some time, the cub, his attention caught by a fluttering butterfly, wanders off up the mountainside.
Soon the young cub meets with a large male grizzly wading in a pool of water attempting to soothe a bullet wound inflicted by a pair of hunters. The male growls at the cub, warning him not to come closer. Wandering nearer, the cub begins licking the male's wound, initiating a friendship between the bears. The two hunters who had shot the male grizzly continue with their hunt. They are joined by another hunter friend and a pack of hunting dogs. Finding the two bears the hunters chase them over a ridge, sending their dogs after them. The male motions to the cub to hide and then faces to fight the dogs. The hunters lower on the ridge cannot get a clear shot away for fear of hitting one of their dogs. The male gets away over the ridge, still being chased by a few of the dogs. Arriving at the scene of the fight, the hunters find some of their dogs fatally wounded.
Hearing whimpers, the hunters find the cub huddled in a small rock shelter. The hunters take the cub back to their camp where they tease and torment him. Continuing their hunt for the male, the hunters leave camp the next morning, leaving the cub tied to a tree. They reach the area where they believe the male to be. The younger of the two hunters waits high on a cliff in the hot sun for the male. Eventually he leaves his gun at his post and goes to a nearby waterfall to cool himself.
Suddenly he is cornered, without his gun, by the male grizzly. Faced with the grizzly's menacing roars and snarls the hunter whimpers, pleading for mercy. The grizzly, seemingly affected by the hunter's distress, turns and leaves. The hunter jumps up, grabs his rifle, and follows where the grizzly began to make his way up to the higher elevations. He aims his rifle at the ascending grizzly, the bear's back in his sights. He experiences a sudden epiphany, and decides not to kill the bear. The younger hunter, noticing his older partner rushing up from the riverbed below, fires his rifle into the air in order to scare the grizzly off.
As the older hunter reaches him, the younger hunter tells his partner that he shot the grizzly and that the bear fell from the other side of the ridge. The older hunter then looks up and sees the grizzly lumbering up the slope. The older hunter raises his rifle to shoot the bear, but the younger hunter calmly stops him. Returning to their camp, the hunters, in a different state of mind, let the grizzly go. The hunters leave the mountains and begin their trek back to civilization. The bear cub is once again left alone. Traveling alone, the young cub is spotted by a mountain lion. The lion begins chasing the cub along a riverbank. Eventually the cub comes face to face with the mountain lion. Forced to defend himself, the young cub begins roaring at the lion in a brave but desperate effort to stay alive. Apparently frightened, the mountain lion backs off from the cub, then turns and flees. It is revealed that it wasn't in fact the roars of the cub that frightened off the mountain lion, but those of the grizzly male. The cub turns to see his friend and protector, and they embrace each other.
The film concludes with winter setting in and the two bears going together into a cave. Settling down for hibernation, we see the young cub experiencing his first peaceful sleep since the death of his mother.
The film opens with a quote from The Grizzly King: "The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live." The plot focuses on the idea of compassion for life and nature. At the end of the story we see that the younger of the two hunters has become wiser. He has survived because of the mercy afforded him by the grizzly. When found unarmed and helpless by the grizzly male, the younger hunter was at the grizzly's mercy. The grizzly left the young hunter alive, but could easily have killed him. Recovering from his shock, the young hunter first thought to kill the grizzly, but then gave thought to a deeper inspiration and allowed the grizzly to live, affording the bear the same mercy that was afforded him. We then learn that the older of the two hunters shares the thoughts of the younger hunter. The older hunter says near the end: "Everyone has a secret place, and by God that is how it should be." Ultimately the film shares its philosophical sentiment with that of the book on which it is based, that of a Biocentric or Deep Ecology.
[edit] Reception
The film was a critical success and retains a 100% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.com.
[edit] References
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
