... 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.
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.