"The Bear"

[Charles]

A friend turned me on to this film with clip I'm showcasing here. It's a remarkable movie and I have no idea how the director, Jean-Jacques Annaud, got these animals to do what they did or what he wanted them to do.

One film reviewer sums it up:

"Storytelling doesn't get much purer than this--a film with virtually no dialogue and not a minute that isn't fascinating, either for the plot it pursues or the way director gets his ursine stars to do what he wants. The story deals with a young cub who, after his mother is killed in a landslide, bonds to a lumbering male Kodiak. The two of them then must cope with an invasion of hunters into their territory. Aside from stunning scenery, the film offers startlingly close-up looks at bear behavior. They say the best actors are the ones that let you see what they're thinking, a trick Annaud manages with his big, furry stars." -- Marshall Fine

Check out this sequence where a mountain lion is hunting down a bear cub.