Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Chrystal M — 10 Sep 2011

I enjoyed Brother Bear. The movie takes place within a Native American tribe. The tribe lives off of the land (Living Religions, Indigenous Scared Ways) and shows respect for the spirits of their ancestors and heritage as a primal religion community.

The movie is based on a family of three brothers and the rites of passage of Kenai. I really liked the opening how the lights and shaman were presented like spirits and humans inhabiting the earth together in perfect harmony.

The shaman, (Living Religions, chapter 2 page 50) an elderly woman showed tribal member's the way to respect and listen to the spirits to receive their blessings. Before the totem ceremony (Living Religions, Group Observances pg.

56-57) for Kenai took place he and his brothers were all fooling around like brothers do and gathering food for the feast. Kenai didn't do as he should have to ensure the fish for the feast was properly put up in the tree as he was told to do by his older brother.

when the fish fell from the tree he look back and said it will be okay and ran off to be with the others at the ceremony. After the feast they returned and to their surprise so was a bear. The brothers tried to get the bear to leave but in trying to do so the oldest brother was killed.

Kenai's need for revenge for his brother's death drove him to kill the bear. Kenai couldn't win his brother to go with him to kill the bear so he went on his own. Kenai kills the bear, a mother bear at that, he's then magically transformed into a bear as punishment (Living Religion, Cyclical View of Time).

This causes his brother to think that both of his brothers have been killed. He goes to hunt down and kill the bear which is actually his Kenai. The shaman has been talking with the spirits and is the only one that knows what happened to Kenai.

The shaman told Kenai the truth about the situation and that he is the only one to blame and he is the only one that can fix what he has gotten himself in and he has to make amends with the spirits(Living Religion, Ancestrism).

Kenai is put in the bear's place, the thing that he sought to kill and hated he is. Kenai learns what it's like to live like a bear and he has to learn to be forgiving and trusting. As a bear Kenai learned to trust the other animals for his survival including a cub named Koda, his enemy.

Kenai learns Koda is the cub of bear he killed. The shaman emphasized their ancestors spirits must be respected and to respect all life or pay the penalty for offending the spirits. As Kenai has goes through life as a bear his thoughts are transformed to understand what it's like to be a bear.

He's no longer the hunter, he's the hunted. Humans are the monsters that he thought the bears were. Indigenous religious beliefs of life being a circle comes alive when we learn the spirit of the oldest is now an eagle that saves his brothers from killing each other.

Although this started off like a story you would tell a child, I found it to be a life lesson on how to respect others, take responsibility for our own actions and be careful how you not only treat others but things around you.