Director:Jean-Jacques AnnaudDirector:Mary Jo SlaterWriters:James Oliver Curwood, Gérard Brach
L’oursWhen it reached cinemas in 1988, it brought us a filmmaking technique that perhaps had never been attempted before. To me, it is one of those French films that deserve to be called cult classics. In its technique, subject matter and messages, it stands among the best examples of its kind.
To touch briefly on the story: we watch, in moving dramatic detail, a bear cub struggle to survive in the wild after losing its mother in an unfortunate accident. We witness the cub’s fears, dreams, worries and moments of happiness. The music is wonderful. The landscapes and wide-angle shots are truly magnificent. The film makes you empathise with the bear; you put yourself in the place of that small, helpless animal. Given the year it was made, the absence of computer-generated effects draws you even further into its atmosphere, because the performances and the staging are real. Making these wild animals fit so convincingly into a dramatic screenplay as performers, without the illusion ever slipping, must have taken an extraordinary amount of effort and dedication. My congratulations to the filmmakers.
At the end, the director uses the bears to teach us a lesson in humanity. Despite everything we do, it is the bears, symbols of strength in the wild, that show us what humanity means. You should definitely watch it and keep it in your collection.