The Bear (1988, PG)

For a movie with such spare dialogue, little involvement in human characters, and not serving as a documentary feature on wildlife, the Bear comes off as a good movie in terms of production value.  For the audience, people will see this as an engaging motion picture of animal life in the wilds.  Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the Bear is a movie that I found could prove itself to be a good movie without top star actors or dazzling action sequences.

At first glance, the Bear may appear to be as a cheap documentary pic about Grizzly Bears.  In actuality, the Bear is a tale of survival, set against the harsh backdrop of the wilderness mountains in British Columbia, circa 1885.

The movie tells the story of the relationship between an orphaned Bear cub, and an aging old Grizzly, and their adventures in the wilderness and their battle with two hunters who have come for Grizzly hunters.

The Bear fails to leave much of an emotional impact upon us, and some will disgrace it as a documentary released to cinemas.  If not enjoyable, then the Bear is a good movie because it doesn't turn into a political stance movie hellbent on getting the message out to preserve the North American wildlife. Rather, the film succeeds in providing a different kind of achievement in successfully depicting the lives of North American animals, specifically the Grizzlies, while set against the beauty and majesty of the Dolmite Mountains (the movie was shot in Italy but takes place in British Columbia).

The Bear is a piece of majestic motion picture art, not in the cinematic awe-inspiring sense of the Lion King, but in a sense of realism.  This is a true story of survival, a movie that pits man against beast, and where both of them actually learn something about each other.  For these reasons, the Bear is not a movie to simply overlook at the video store.  It becomes it's own little saga on it's own, about the excitement, adventure and danger in the North American wilderness, giving us a strinkingly brutal, realistic and harsh perspective on that topic.  

                             ****/5