Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Del G — 05 Sep 2009

Imagine seeking revenge on a wild bear for the death of your brother only to find yourself transformed into that animal, this is what happened to Kenai in Brother Bear. After the transformation Kenai learns many valuable lessons in his search for inner peace.

Kenai thinks bears are just dumb wild animals that simply exist. After a bear takes some fish that he and his brothers had caught he seeks to return the basket his brother made only to find it destroyed. He seeks revenge on the bear by killing him. He is no match for the bear and his two brothers come to his aid. In the midst of the fight one of his brothers sacrifices himself to save the other two. Kenai seeks to kill the bear, who he blames for his brother?s death, and upsets the spirits. He is them transformed into a bear. Adventure and life lessons follow as his new found friend, a cub named Koda, make their way to the salmon run and to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, the northern lights. After facing the trials along the way he must make peace with his past in order to move forward into the future.

While watching the movie I could see the parallels in indigenous sacred ways. It starts with the storyteller relaying a story that teaches a lesson to the tribe. There is a Shaman in the story who is there to perform the ritual of advancing to manhood. The movie also demonstrates the kinship with the earth. The area that really demonstrated this relationship with the indigenous sacred ways is the belief in the Great Spirit that is where the sky touches the earth and where the spirits of those who have gone before us dwell.

In the end Brother Bear demonstrates indigenous sacred ways of Native Americans and how their beliefs are passed down through their generations. It also shows how they commune with nature and feel as one with the circle of life both with their tribal family and with the earth.