Favorite Flicks: The Bear

© 1989 Tri-Star Pictures, Inc.
Running time: 92 min. Rated PG
Jack Wallace, Tcheky Karyo

Based on the novel The Grizzly King, by James Oliver Curwood

 

PLOT

Set in British Columbia in 1885, this movie tells the story of two bears whose lives become intertwined. Wounded by a gunshot to the shoulder, an enormous grizzly escapes his hunters and wreaks havoc on their camp; the hunters vow revenge. After his mother is killed in a rockslide, a cub seeks the comfort and protection of the great bear, and the two forge an unlikely friendship. The bear teaches his young friend how to survive even as he struggles to evade the hunters and their dogs. When the giant grizzly spares his enemy’s life, the hunter must decide if he’s willing to do the same.

HUMANE MESSAGES & OTHER GOOD POINTS

• Celebrates bears and nature in general with stunning cinematography.

• Sensitively depicts bears engaged in various natural behaviors, including mating, hunting, and foraging.

• Encourages empathy for animals by showing that they have feelings and can suffer physically and emotionally. For example, the cub curls up by his mother’s dead body, heartbroken by her death; later in the movie, he cries out in loneliness and seeks comfort in a pile of bearskins. (Parents and teachers: Please note that several of the empathy-building scenes are intense and may upset younger viewers. These scenes include the death of the cub’s mother, the shooting of the grizzly, the mercy killing of the hunter’s dog, and the final confrontation between the hunter and the grizzly.)

• Suggests that bears have intelligent, active minds. The grizzly outsmarts the hunters and their dogs, the cub has vivid dreams, and both make conscious decisions throughout the movie.

• Depicts a hunter who experiences a change of heart. Unarmed and defenseless, he is at the grizzly’s mercy, yet the bear chooses to leave him unharmed. Later, when the hunter has a clear shot at the bear, he returns the favor and lets him live; he also discourages another hunter from shooting the bear. The movie ends with a quote from J. O. Curwood, author of The Grizzly King: "The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live."

POINTS TO PONDER

From a humane perspective, few movies are perfect. Following are potential problems with the film that you may wish to address with your children or students.

• Although The Bear celebrates bears and their natural behaviors, this film uses captive, trained bears.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

A bear of a book. Read aloud Honey Paw and Lightfoot, by Jonathan London (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1995). This picture book follows a year in the life of a grizzly and her cub and, like The Bear, celebrates the natural behaviors of bears. For more recommended reading, click here.

Change of heart. In The Bear, an unarmed hunter comes face-to-face with a giant grizzly—an experience that allows him to understand how the animals he hunts might feel. Ask each student to think of other situations in which an animal’s life or well-being is threatened by a human action. (Possibilities include: an insect, spider, or worm in the path of an approaching foot; a raccoon or opossum crossing the road; a rhino being pursued by poachers; a parrot whose rain forest is being cut down; or a stray dog or cat being teased by a group of children.) Have students write a short story—with a happy ending—from that animal’s point of view. Send students’ stories to KIND News, 67 Norwich Essex Turnpike, East Haddam, CT 06423-0362. Be sure to include students’ names, ages, grades, and addresses.

A man of two minds. Hold a discussion with more advanced classes about the younger hunter’s contradictory attitudes toward animals. He loves his hunting dog, Dixie, and grieves when the dog dies. On the other hand, he views the bear merely as an animal to kill. Ask students: Why do you think the hunter views the two animals so differently? What are your feelings toward companion animals? Wild animals? Farm animals? Animals in circuses and marine parks? Ask students to try to explain any differences in attitude they have toward different animals.