Someone shared this video in an email; it’s fitting for Mother’s Day, we think.

“The Bear” is an unusually involving clip (from a 1988 film) about animals that will give you a fresh perspective on their world.”

Click here to watch this short video: The bear

Comments: “Storytelling doesn’t get much purer than this–a film with virtually no dialogue and not a minute that isn’t fascinating, either for the plot it pursues or the way director Jean-Jacques Annaud gets his ursine stars to do what he wants. The story deals with a young cub who, after his mother is killed in a landslide, bonds to a lumbering male Kodiak. The two of them then must cope with an invasion of hunters into their territory–and Annaud makes it clear whose side he’s on. Aside from stunning scenery, the film offers startlingly close-up looks at bear behavior. They say the best actors are the ones that let you see what they’re thinking, a trick Annaud manages with his big, furry stars. –  Marshall Fine

“The Bear has all the marks of a classic. Lauded by animal rights groups for its respect for the integrity of all species, it manages to speak out eloquently against the senseless hunting of wildlife without having to depict killing to make its point. Instead, it emphasizes the ties that bind the human and animal worlds together. – Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat”

According to rottentomatoes.com, “Jean-Jacques Annaud directed this unusual and compelling tale of animals in the wild, which tells its tale from the bears’ point of view. A pair of carefully-trained bruins deliver remarkably effective ‘performances’ (aided by clever editing and, in some sequences, the use of realistic animated models). A infant bear cub (Douce the Bear) witnesses the death of his mother in a rockslide and is forced to set out to fend for himself. The young bear encounters a giant grizzly (Bart the Bear), who at first cannot abide the young bear’s presence. However, the grizzly is soon ambushed by a pair of hunters — Bill (Jack Wallace) and Tom (Tcheky Karyo) — after an altercation with their pack animals. As the injured beast cleans his wounds in a stream, the young bear comes to his aid, and the giant takes the youngster under his wing. However, Bill and Tom have sworn revenge on the grizzly, and when they capture the young bear, it lures the giant back into the hunters’ camp. L’Ours, released in English-speaking countries as The Bear, was based on the novel King Grizzly by James Oliver Curwood.”