LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

calvinnme ... is to leave your enemy alive knowing that without his dogs and his guns and his buddies and his notched bullets meant to cause his prey to explode not just die, that this enemy is just a great big sissy. No, the story is more complex than that, but at the climax of the film you can almost detect the trace of a smile on the face of the gigantic Kodiak bear as he roars in the face of the unsuspecting hunter who is left on his knees, hands on his ears begging "please don't kill me". And then the bear just turns around and ambles away.So how did we get to this point? It is British Columbia 1885, and this story starts out with a momma bear and her cub, digging honeycomb out of the base of a hill. The momma is making such a ruckus digging that she causes a minor rock slide and is killed instantly in the process. This is the very saddest part of the film, as the baby first tries to help mom by removing the rocks, and then snuggles up next to her corpse until hunger makes him leave her behind.Meanwhile there is the gigantic Kodiak bear I mentioned in the first paragraph, doing what Kodiak bears do - scratching his back on trees until they fall, mating with female bears he comes across, and killing elk for food because, for something this big, some fish and berries are just not going to do the job.Also there are a pair of hunters, an older one and a younger one. They are obviously after bear pelts, because as we meet them the older hunter is flinging the bear meat into the fire and finishing up the job of skinning his latest kill. Now at the time I am writing this, trophy hunters are in the news, and the news is repellent, people killing wild animals just for the sport. But this is a wilderness and more than likely these hunters need the pelts to sell and to use in the harsh cold winters for themselves. Everything pulls its weight in such an ecosystem or it is deemed as unnecessary and won't last long anyways.What sets up our story is that the pair of hunters detect our gigantic friend. The younger hunter is inexperienced, though, and shoots too soon. He wounds the bear but does not kill it. The hunters go out looking for the bear and when they don't find it, the older hunter says to let it go. That is, until they realize they are the hunted and see that the bear has doubled back on them and slaughtered their pack horses, including the older hunter's own horse, and probably as close to a pet as you get in this place. The older hunter swears revenge and leaves the younger hunter there while he goes back to town and gets their tracking dogs.In the end we have the most unlikeliest of scenarios. The male bear takes up with the baby bear feeding it and protecting it in almost a big brother/little brother relationship that provides some precious moments, and we have the young hunter and the old hunter deciding to let the giant bear get away in spite of the fact that he killed the older hunter's horse and the younger hunter's favorite dog in the chase.Watch this one to see the forgiveness that seems to go both ways in the animal kingdom - human to animal, animal to human, and to see the possibility that sometimes animals can strike up friendships even in the harshest of environments. And might I add that the beautiful Canadian scenery almost steals the show. Highly recommended. Let me also note that there is almost no dialogue in this one, but it is unnecessary to convey the relationship between the hunters and what they are thinking. The acting and direction are that good.

sol ***SPOILER*** Beautifully and breathtakingly photographed in the Italian Alps, subbing for the snow capped mountains of British Columbia, "The Bear" is one of the finest films about man and beast, in this case grizzly bears, to come out in the last 30 or so years. There's this 1,500 grizzly, Bart, who's injured by a pair of trophy hunters who turns violent and after attacking the hunters camp ends up killing and injuring all their pack mules and horses.It's little Youk a baby grizzly bear who's mother was killed in an avalanche who tries to befriend Big Bart who at first drives him away and later, after Youk ends up licking and cleaning his gunshot wound, accepts him as his own. While all this is going on the two hunters are determined to track down Big Bart and kill him before he does any more damage. Big Bart who knows the landscape far better then the two hunters eludes them at every turn but little Youk isn't that successful. Youk get caught by the hunters and left tied in their camp as a pet together with the hunters tracking dogs.***SPOILERS*** It's later when one of the hunters is caught off guard, minus his bear killing rifle, that Big Bart confronts him on a mountain ledge having him scared, in knowing what Big Bart is capable of doing, out of his wits. With the terrified hunter showing fear as well as submission Big Bart in returns show the helpless hunter the kind of mercy that he and his fellows hunter never showed to the big bad bear. What's even more striking in all this is that Big Bart was shot and seriously wounded while eating wild berries, and not attacking them,by the hunters earlier as well as him being tracked down by them to be killed while at first being no threat to them at all! Yet Big Bart showed the trapped hunter the kind of human like mercy that he or any other hunter would have never showed to him under the same circumstances!****MORE SPOILERS*** With the hunter now a changed man he refuses to gun down Big Bart when he with his back turned walks away from him. He also gets his fellow hunter to do the same thing without telling him of the frighting and traumatic as well as heart lifting experience he just had with the big grizzly. With the now changed, in killing wild animals, hunters releasing little Youk back into the wild the cute little bear is soon stalked and confronted by a hungry and ferocious mountain lion who after what seemed like over a mile chase cornered him and was just about to stick his deadly claws and fangs into the helpless baby bear. It's just then that something caught the mountain lions attention and he not only ceased his attacking little Youk but turned tail and ran for his life. It was Youk's adopted daddy Big Bart who despite being separated from little Youk for some time he in fact didn't forget him as he came to his rescue!

cmarine-2 The Bear is definitely an adult appropriate movie, but not appropriate for kids. It should probably be rated PG-13 at the least. There were several frightening and distressful scenes that were hard to watch that contained blood splatters, animal cries, wounds and deaths. This was especially hard to watch if you love animals and hate hunting! The moral of the story was a good one and should be taken seriously, but was over-shadowed by the endless terror and gore throughout most of the movie. For instance, just when you feel the worst is over, the baby bear is chased by a vicious cougar and is attacked, blood is shown. I am a young adult who found it hard to sit through this movie without fast-forwarding some of the traumatic scenes. While the scenery was beautiful and there were a few precious moments shared between the baby bear and the adult bear, these weren't the focus of the movie. Parents be advised when showing this movie to your children.

VideoJoeD This outdoor wildlife drama, stars Jack Wallace and Tcheky Kayro as two nineteenth century trappers. The trappers share the spotlight with two bears that they encounter during one of their Pacific Northwest expeditions. The film examines the relationship between a young cub and a fully matured Grizzly. This is an excellent wildlife film which might be a little frightening at times for younger children, but includes many heartwarming scenes for parents and older children. Viewers who prefer limited dialog should love this film, which presents a substantial portion of the drama from the young Grizzly's prospective. The film which has several touching and humorous moments is highly recommended for family viewing, but keep in mind that it may not be suitable for younger children.