Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Heather R — 24 Nov 2013

Brother Bear is a very appealing movie that plays on the traditions of Native Americans. This movie tries to show these timeless traditions and beliefs through a cartoon in order to help children and adults grasp the sacred beliefs of the Native Americans.

The Native Americans have always held the Earth, Mother Nature, and all of the creatures as valuable. They strongly believe that each creature and living thing has a soul. This is shown through the example of the bear in Brother Bear. When Kenai sets out on revenge to kill a bear, with evil intentions, he sets the story in motion.

Even though this is set as a cartoon and the whole story is to set up a moral for people to live by, it does touch on a few important beliefs in the Native American society. For example, many Native Americans have names that are associated with their animal spirit. In many tribes, the young boys are sent out to discover their spirit in order to become men. Once they are given an animal spirit, it is up to them to hold this sacred. It is also believed by many Native Americans that if one takes the life of a living animal, even for food, they must celebrate the life the animal had and perform special rituals. This is to ensure that the animal is used in its entirety and that it will provide for the tribe.

This movie relates back to my World Religions course by giving examples of the Native American rituals and beliefs. The only sidetrack is that the movie does serve as a funny and touching way to install morals in children and certain aspects of the movie trail away from the true Native American beliefs. However, this movie does serve as a learning tool in order to show the importance of Earth to the Native Americans, and that everything on this Earth from animals to rivers and even mountains are considered sacred and must be treated with respect.