Tagline: Two infant tiger cubs, separated from their parents and each other.
1920s Indochina. In the wild, a pair of adult tigers have just had a litter of two male cubs. It is a loving family unit, with the two brothers having a bond through their adventurous spirit. In different incidents, the cubs are captured individually, and although both in captivity live very different lives.
Their individual captures were directly or indirectly associated with the work of Aidan McRory, a treasure and big game hunter, whose main goal is to make as much money for himself by selling his largely illegally obtained artifacts and animal parts at auction in Europe. Through the process, he has an emotional connection with one of the cubs, who is eventually named Kumal, but of who he eventually loses track.
The cubs’ lives are affected negatively by a number of other people who are working solely toward their own end goals, but the other cub, who is eventually named Sangha, also makes an emotional human connection to a young boy named Raoul Normandin, the son of the area administrator. Similar to Kumal and Aidan, Raoul eventually loses track of his tiger friend.
The second year of the cubs’ lives, they now full fledged adult tigers, is different than their first, with a question being how their individual experiences in captivity will affect how they function in their much different new environments. Both Aidan and Raoul are determined to do whatever necessary to make sure what happens to the tigers are for the benefit of the lives they should be leading based on their history, with Aidan and Raoul perhaps having a different perspective on what that actually is.
About the Production
One of the most popular and critically acclaimed motion pictures of the late 1980s was a film that, on paper, seemed to break all the usual rules for success. In an era where high-concept seemed to be the order of the day, this film had no big stars, no high-speed chases, no explosions and only about 10 minutes of dialogue. Its leading character was neither human nor extra-terrestrial.
The film was The Bear.
Its director: Jean-Jacques Annaud.
An Academy Award winner for his debut feature, Black and White in Color, Annaud enjoyed international success with such films as Quest for Fire and The Name of the Rose. Still, movie audiences were unprepared for the breathtaking emotional journey the filmmaker created in his depiction of the relationship between a precocious bear cub and an old grizzled Kodiak struggling to survive in the wilderness.
The Bear was not a nature documentary, but rather a three-act work of dramatic fiction-scripted, rehearsed and acted by a cast in which the principal actors were willful, non-verbal and dangerous 1,800 lb. carnivores. Eschewing conventional voiceover narration, Annaud cinematically transported moviegoers into the raw essence of the wild, presenting, for the first time, the day-to-day lives of these animals from their perspective.
The director brought a new sensitivity to a film about nature and even dared to provide a glimpse into what these animals might dream about. Everywhere The Bear opened, from its October 1988 debut in France through its U.S. release in November 1989 and its Latin American release in early 1990, it was enthusiastically embraced by audiences and critics alike.
Two Brothers (2004)
Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Starring: Guy Pearce, Christian Clavier, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Freddie Highmore, Oanh Nguyen, Moussa Maaskri, Jaran ‘See Tao’ Petcharoen
Screenplay by: Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard
Production Design by: Pierre Queffelean
Cinematography by: Jean-Marie Dreujou
Film Editing by: Noëlle Boisson
Costume Design by: Pierre-Yves Gayraud
Costume Design by: Pierre-Yves Gayraud
Art Direction by: Gilles Iscan, Franck Schwarz, Steve Spence
MPAA Rating: PG for mild violence.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: June 25, 2004
Visits: 51
