Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Mary D — 31 Aug 2010

I chose the movie "Brother Bear", I was pleasantly surprise about how powerful a message I received from this movie. Basically this movie is about three brothers (Kenai, Denahi and Stika) who belong to a tribe of hunters and gatherers.

They are down at the river to get fishing for a ceremony in honor of the youngest brother (Kenai) becoming a man. The tribes shaman woman gives Kenai a totom that represents love (the bear totom). His brothers make fun at him for not receiving a more manly totom.

The oldest brother explains that living by one's totom is important in life. When the brothers go to retrieve the fish, they find that the fish has been eaten by a bear. They find the bear and the bear attacks them, during the attack Sitka's dies.

Kenai is mad and wants revenge for his brothers' death. He is warned by Denahi not to seek revenge and not to upset the spirits and leave the bear along. He does not listen and kills the bear. The spirits are not happy with his actions, they decide to turn him into a bear.

Now, Denahi thinging that the bear has kill his younger brother seeks revenge and goes on the hunt for the bear. Little does he know the bear he is tracking is his brother. Kenai starts his journey to find the great lights which represent the spirits of his ancestors.

Kenai meets a bear cub called Koda, who frees him from a trap, realizing that he is now being hunted by his brother. After Kenai and the cub escape Koda reveals that he has been separated fron his mother.

Kenai agrees to take him to the salmon run. When they reach the river where the salmon run is, Kenai wants to leave for the mountiains, but the other bears show him how all bears belong together. That night the bears start telling stories about their experiences over that past year.

When Koda tells his story of how he became separated from his mother, Kemai realizes he is the one who killed her. When Kenai tells Koda that he was the one who killed his mother Koda runs away. When Kenai tries to save Koda from his brother, Sitka turns him back into a man.

After Kenai has been turned back into a man he realizes that the bear cub stills need him. He asked the ancestors will let him stay a bear. The movie demonstrates the belief that the universe is connectioned.

It shows a Shaman woman, whose duty is to guide the tribe to their ancestors. It shows one of the uses for ceremonies(the right of passage to manhood). This was a good movie. (Mary DeJournette).