This may be the first movie in which animals are billed above humans in the opening credits. But that’s entirely appropriate. The stars of The Bear are two grizzlies, one little and one huge, while the human characters are definitely supporting actors.
The idea for The Bear originated about seven years ago, when French director Jean-Jacques Annaud came up with a very simple synopsis, which he gave to writer Gerard Brach: “A big solitary bear. An orphan bear cub. Two hunters in the forest. The animals’ point of view.” With a bit of fleshing out, that’s the movie he eventually made. As the film opens, a mother bear is rooting for honey when she is killed by a rock slide; her orphaned cub strikes out on his own. Meanwhile, an enormous male grizzly is shot and wounded by two hunters, who pursue. The little bear hooks up with the healing giant and follows him around like, well, like a bear cub. After some wildlife adventures, the two bears finally come face to face with the hunters and the drama plays itself out.
Annaud had made that fascinating epic about cave men, Quest for Fire, so he knew something about mounting an outdoor spectacular. But The Bear took a long time to develop, with years devoted to the selection and training of bears and a lengthy, painstaking shooting process. Most of it was filmed in the Austrian Alps.
Annaud and the bears create some amazing moments. The bears are treated as actors, and they express emotions, or seem to, with remarkable dexterity. The little cub actually convinces you of his maturation. The movie’s like a live-action Bambi, except, of course, that bears are much cooler than deer.
How did they do all this? Apparently with good trainers, some puppets and dummies, a jot of patience, perhaps some luck. Annaud has reported waiting an entire day for a bear to yawn.
In one sequence, the cub is chased by a mountain lion, out onto a tree limb that overhangs a rushing river. The branch breaks, and the bear is taken for a ride down the stream, as the cougar follows along on the bank. It sounds natural, but how are animals “directed” in such a scene? They certainly give great performances.
One thing: The Bear was not made as a children’s movie. There is nothing sanitized about it. When bears and dogs and deer are wounded, by man or by each other, they bleed and sometimes die. (All simulated, as the film goes to pains to point out.)
All of this comes from Annaud’s rigorous devotion to the bears. He’s so aligned with the bears’ point of view that he even shows their dreams; dreams of honey, and slippery frogs, and loss. What else would bears dream about?
First published in the Herald, October 28, 1989
Bart the Bear starred, in one of his biggest performances. All of this is past, of course, as the new Call of the Wild movie shows the efficiency of simply computer-generating a dog to be the star.
WHAT A FEELING! 