Terre des ours (Land of the Bears)

As bears wake up from their cavernous winter lairs, nature slowly unravels a bountiful nutrient enriched spread, the frozen months having left them restless and hungry, ready to once again, embrace their awe inspiring surroundings.

Millions of calories must be stored before winter descends once more, and bears must keep active to consume enough to prepare them for their next extended slumber.

Guillaume Vincent's Terre des ours (Land of the Bears) follows them as they adventure.

I've read about bears maintaining loose familial bonds while foraging, and Vincent's film factualizes this tendency.

A young male heads out into the world for the first time without the accompaniment of his mother or sister, and upon encountering his sister early on in the Spring, takes the time to warmly greet her, before they sit back, stray, and frolic.

Younger bears must learn to be bears as well, and 2 leave their den in the care of their mother, passing the time curiously learning her lessons, while also engaging in bold acts of mischief.

Bears abound in this land and come close to forming a sleuth, although they do often still maintain a respectful distance.

Heartbreak strikes as two young cubs who have lost their mother emerge from the woods to take food from cubs younger than themselves.

I've also read about bears adopting motherless cubs, but this doesn't happen in Terre des ours.

While Disneynature's Bears attaches an endearing narrative to its subject/s, Terre des ours takes a more random approach, interspersing events from various bear lives throughout, while adding relevant and informative commentaries.

Not as cute and cuddly as Bears, Terre des ours's form chooses to accentuate the wilder aspects of their lives, the edited accumulation of footage functioning like an instructive a/symmetrical mosaic, the bears within seeming more like wild animals than huggable teddies, which is an intelligent modus operandi, inasmuch as it reflects both strength and struggle.

It's important for humans to view bears from a distance as a general rule.

Treadwell proved that you can oddly live amongst them for long periods, but it's only a matter of time before you're transformed from observer to snack.

I think over the centuries many bears have learned to identify humans with death, and acculturating them to the presence of humans makes the poacher's crime easier to undertake.

Many of them are like giant raccoons, not related to raccoons, they may still be debating this, but they can still turn and suddenly start hunting you. Raccoons usually split quickly. I was sitting in the forest one day and I looked to the left and saw a raccoon approaching who hadn't noticed me. I waved, it looked up, and took off into the bush full-speed ahead.

If you see a bear, move away slowly, but note that it's likely not going to attack.

The bears in Terre des ours spend most of their time fishing and playing, it's a great film for bear enthusiasts and nature lovers generally.

They've chosen great moments to insert songs with vocal tracks, and sustained a visceral sense of majesty and wonder.

Like the bears themselves are living breathing volcanic lava.

Raconté par Marion Cotillard.