Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Ashlee C — 30 Nov 2013

Katrina Corbett.

World Religions.

The movie begins with Tanana embarking upon a journey to the mountains to speak with the spirits to find out what Kenai's totem is. Speaking with the spirits tells Tanana what a boy must do so that he may enter into manhood. Kenia is deeply disappointed to learn during that ceremony that celebrated his arrival into manhood that his totem is the bear of love. The bear of love connects all living things, which in Indigenous religions the concept of interconnectedness between humans and all living things is something that Natives strongly believe in. Kenai is so excited about Tanana's return that he neglects to tightly tie the basket of fish, as he had promised his brother Danahi. His carelessness thus results in bears getting in the basket due to him not securely fastening the fish in the basket. Kenai's older brother Danahi expresses his displeasure and Kenai goes upon the mountain to correct this mishap. When he comes upon a bear and a struggle ensues his brothers Danahi and Sitka rush to his aide. Sitka essentially sacrifices himself to save his brother and dies from a broken glacier. Kenai blinded by his grief decided to exact revenge upon the bear, Kenai kills the bear and because of his act of vengeance the spirits and Sitka came down and punished him by transform him unto a bear. After Kenai's disorientating and confusing transformation into a bear, he came upon a small cub who promised him that he would show him to the lights. During the course of the movie Kenai's attitude towards the small cub Koda changes; at first he is annoyed with him but over time he developed a brotherly bond with the cub. All the while during their journey they are trying to escape Danahi who is trying to slay the bear to avenge both of his brother's death, of course while he is pursuing the bear, he is unaware that this in fact his brother in non-human form. While they are staying with a community of bears Koda told the story of how he lost his mother, upon hearing this Kenai fled the community because he realized that the bear he had slain had in fact been Koda's mother. Koda searched for him and eventually Koda learned the hard truth about Kenai's role in his mother's death. Once on the mountain Danahi found the bear and he began to attack him; Kenai begs Sitka to transform him back so his brother does not kill him. Sitka and the spirits change Kenai back into his human form and Danahi is delighted to see him. After briefly becoming human and speaking with his brother Kenia decides that he must return to his bear form in order to raise Koda and protect him. His brother understands and Kenai is welcomed with arms wide open back into the tribe in his bear form.

In Indigenous religions people and Mother Nature are interconnected and they believe that one must live in harmony, show respect for all living creatures and take care of the earth. A lot of their stories have a meaning and they teach lessons on how to function in a morally upstanding way in society, in this case Kenai's heart was full of bitterness and vengeance so the spirits transformed him and taught him to live with and have a greater respect for nature. Many native religions teach you must coexist with animals and not treat them as if you were a master over them and maintain the balance between humanity and nature. In world religions we learned that they went on spirit quest in order to enter manhood, in "Brother Bear" the people of this tribe had Tanana speak with the spirits and the spirits gave them a "totem" on how they should enter manhood; wither it be through love, wisdom or discipline. When they went into the woods often they would go through harsh conditions; hunger and so forth as a rite of passage. In "Brother Bear" this was there right of passage; they received their totem and had to live by it until it was felt they were ready for manhood. All in Disney did an excellent job portraying how the Natives felt about their relationship with the spirit world, it gave a less harsh view of what a vision quest entailed and its role and how imperative it was to live in Harmony with nature and behave in a certain manner, least you be taught a lesson by the spirit world. Usually in their stories it is an animal who teaches life lessons and I'd say that in this movie it taught not to have a heart full of vengeance and to take heed.