The Bear (1988)

A difficult bet to make a movie with animals as actors. And however, Jean-Jacques Annaud managed to take up the challenge with guts and determination. His efforts were rewarded because his movie won three oscars in France in 1989 including the Best Director.

The story of the film is plain and simple and the movie succeeds in creating an intense emotion thanks partly to Philippe Sarde's music and the strength of a few sequences. I think notably about the death of the bear cub's mother at the beginning of the movie. It's a very harrowing and touching sequence and it's difficult to refrain his tears.

Landscapes are so gorgeous that they're taking the breath away (the movie was shot in Canada) and they confer to the movie a sensation of big and wild.

It's just a pity that Jean-Jacques Annaud's movie is spoiled by an easy and conventional moral: "you mustn't kill but live and let live".

Nevertheless, "l'ours" is a daring movie which was highly successful when it was released in France in 1988.

Fmovies: From the first moment when you see the little bear and his mom digging for honey I was entranced with this film. The whole aura of life in the wild- the mountain lions that prey on other animals and the bear is certainly an omnivore! I don't know how the filmmakers got all that great footage but I enjoyed seeing life through the eyes of the orphaned cub. The scenery is breathtaking. The hunters were almost an intrusion in the film, but in the end they helped to bring the story full circle. This film was recommened to me by a man who never reads, he waxed so about this film I had to see it and I agree it is both a nature film and an allegory on life.

"The Bear" is a rare film when it comes to the ordinary cinema that we usually view. The main characters are animals, and the connection we get from them is something no human actor could emulate. The movie is expertly crafted, especially the direction and the cinematography. The animal trainers are in a class all their own, making everyone else involved with the film seemingly a lot less talented. The film, as previously said, isn't for children, despite the PG rating. It has a fair amount of blood, peril, sadness, and some bear sex! The film is great though, and I'm so glad I found it at Walfart on DVD for $5.50! *** 1/2

The Bear fmovies. I am very fond of this movie. I watched it for first time when I was a very little kid and loved it. Years later, I watched it again and again I was enchanted. This is, in my opinion, the best film about animals ever made. It is very touching, with big emotional power, very beautiful movie. It has moments in which you can cry and moments, in which you can laugh, moments of high tension and moments, in which you feel the harmony of the nature. The bear cub is very, very cute and the big bear is quite formidable. I have such nice memories of this film, I'm very fond of it. I recommend it to everybody - it is a film about life, and there aren't that many of them.

I rarely give a full mark, but here I can do it - 10/10.

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.

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")