L’Ours (1988) - film review

British Columbia, 1885.  When his mother is killed in a rock-fall, a young bear cub must learn to fend for himself.   The cub attempts to befriend a giant grizzly bear, but the latter, irritated by the youngster’s attentions, pushes him away.  After the grizzly is attacked by two hunters, the bear cub comes to his rescue, helping to lick his wounds.  Bear and cub form a natural bond, which the hunters plan to exploit to lure the grizzly into a trap...

L’Ours (a.k.a. The Bear) is a solemn but extraordinarily moving meditation on mankind’s relationship with the natural world that is both captivating and thought-provoking.  With an almost childlike simplicity, it confronts us with the mindless cruelty that man routinely metes out to wild animals and entreats us to show nature greater respect.  As on his previous La Guerre du feu (1981), director Jean-Jacques Annaud tells a compelling and humane story with minimal dialogue, relying mainly on strong visual images to engage the spectator.   The film is cleverly shot so that most of the story is seen from the perspective of an unimaginably cute bear cub, including his dreams and a weird hallucinogenic experience that follows a breakfast of magic mushrooms.  Humour and tragedy are expertly intertwined in a beguiling and unpretentious morality tale that has universal appeal and lasting impact.

A huge international box office success, L’Ours attracted a massive audience of over nine million in France alone, securing its place in the top twenty most commercially successful French films.  A modern fable with a powerful pro-environment message (which is just as relevant today as it was when it was first seen), the film is especially appealing to children, although its uncompromising realism makes it a somewhat more challenging proposition than comparable nature offerings from the sanitised world of Disney.   For an adult viewer, the film also has considerable charm and offers a potent reminder of the immense beauty of the natural world and our obligation to preserve it for future generations.

© James Travers 2011

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?