The Bear (1988, PG)

Directed by: Jean Jacques-Annuad

Grade: B

“The greatest thrill is not to kill, but to let live,” is the tagline to Jean-Jacques Annuad’s 1988 wilderness drama, the Bear.  Since this film, ultimately, is about how the hunter and prey come to respect each other, it’s recognizable about how the Bear is almost an anti-hunting more, or more appropriately an anti-poaching movie, due to this single line.  There are many instances in the Bear that attempt to provoke the human mind into sparing the lives of North America’s wildlife, but the last thing I want to do is to say anything that would be considered a major spoiler of this movie, so I’ll move on.

 The Bear, handsomely and exquisitely shot in the Dolomite Mountains of Europe (though the story is set in 1880s’s British Columbia) follows two parallel story arcs that intertwine together at many moments.  One is that of a recently orphaned bear cub, who is reluctantly taken in by an aged, scarred Grizzly.  Slowly, both animals start to bond with each other, and the aged Grizzly teaches the cub a few life lessons for survival in the wild (as Jack London wrote in his book White Fang, the law of the wild is to eat or be eaten).  The other story arc is that of two hunters who set out to hunt down the grizzly as the grand finale prize to their already successful hunt and this is where the first story arc intertwines with the second and makes things ever the more interesting.

 There is very, very little spoken dialogue in the Bear and the music and character development of the hunters is kept to a minimum.  But in total, this film still works very well.  I remained fully interested in everything that was going on, and in fact, the near-absence of dialogue and music is what I think made this film incredibly unique.  The cinematography, even if not absolutely brilliant, still conveys a true feeling of artistry.  

 From the very beginning, the cub himself is a very likeable onscreen character.  The unfortunate death of his mother, depicted in the very beginning of the film, should impact the audience nearly as much as the cub.  After a few days and nights of bad dreams and loose wanderings, the cub is able to overcome his grief when he runs into the wounded, aged Grizzly, who unenthusiastically takes him in.  As the cub follows the Grizzly, he learns a lot of lessons for life in the wild.  For examples, he licks the Grizzly’s bullet wound as a sign of deference, watches the Grizzly take down a deer, and gradually becomes more confident in himself. In the end, he is able to stand his own ground against an aggressive cougar (with some help from the older bear).

 Overall, the Bear works rather well as a tale of wilderness survival.  Beyond that, it can’t be seen to be worth of much value, but in its utter completion, the Bear is a worthwhile film for its appreciated integrity and effective humbleness. There’s a lot happening in the Bear’s short 94 minute running time, but the truth is that this film is the saga of the growing up of the cub, set against the conflicting clash between the hunter and the hunted.  B