JEAN-JACQUES ANNAUD
THE BEAR (1988)
Release Date : 19/10/1988Soundtrack : Philippe Sarde
Script : Gérard Brach
Awards : César Award of Best Director - César Award of Best editing, Academy Award of the National Academy of Cinema (France) - Silver Foreign Film Guild of German Art House Cinemas Film Award (Germany) - Genesis Award for Best Foreign Feature Film (USA).
Bear-cub Youk lives happily with his mother. A fatal rock-blow makes him an orphan. The innocent youngster then wanders alone in the wild where it is fun to play with butterflies and eat mushrooms. He seeks refuge with Kaar, a huge Kodiak bear as solitary as he is sinister. Kaar rejects Youk, until the cub licks the wounds Kaar received from a hunter’s gun. A friendship is born. Kaar shares his life experience with Youk, who gradually learns about the dangers of life. The cub will have to face many adventures as well as men with guns. Tom the hunter (Cheky Karyo) and his sinister accomplice Bill the trapper (Jack Wallace) prowl the forest. Captured and separated from his protector, Youk wins over Tom, who gradually sees his prey in a new light. "A remarkable achievement only on its own terms (...) its true emphasis is not on wildlife. Instead, it grafts the thoughts and dreams of more commonplace beings onto bear-shaped stand-ins." (The New-York Times).
