A Bear Remembers: Holding Humanity
by Irene Milea
A Bear Remembers is an ode to humanity and nature, a poem of what we lost during the long journey to civilization and modernity, and of what we can do to hold on to that part of us. This short is a visually pleasing, wonderfully crafted, and intense discovery of a sound that connects the present and the past.
A mysterious sound echoes through the streets and hills of a small village. No one understands where it comes from, but they’re all bothered by this repetitive disruption of their daily life. We dive into the raw beauty of the hills and breathe the strong wind, sense the smell of the grass, and feel the ache in our limbs from the long and difficult path we face. A Bear Remembers comes alive thanks to brilliant cinematography and sound design that hit as strongly as the wind blowing through the hills.
We are active partners in Peter’s (Lewis Cornay) mission to solve the sound’s mystery only to end up intertwined in the memories, nostalgia, and longing for a past—Ebba’s (Anna Calder-Marshall) past—that seems dead and gone. But the sound of two pots banging together lingers as a bear-like spirit wanders the sea of green looking for a place that only exists in the memories that Ebba and the spirit share.
We stand in the cold with the characters, remembering the very core of humanity: being together and sharing a community, values, and dances. The look in Ebba’s eyes and the voice of the spirit say, “We used to be something,” in a masterful way.
A Bear Remembers successfully makes us wonder whether we are truly living in a time of progress even when we’ve lost our myths, tradition, and the feeling of togetherness. Technology is helpful—it helped Peter find Ebba, but the bear remembers that there used to be trees where they’re sitting and now there are only wind turbines. And although they may be a symbol of “positive innovation,” they represent a jarring note in a landscape that appears otherwise unspoiled.
The act of creativity is as old as the concept of memories, we create and we remember and we can create more because we remember. The creation of the spirit of the bear is astonishingly beautiful work, he appears as old as time but moves with the shyness of a baby.
Ebba and the bear tell us that we can’t and should not live in the past, but that we should cherish our memories along with it to exist in a present and future that won’t consume us. A Bear Remembers is a lyrical piece of art that touches every fiber of the soul and of the heart, helping us revive even the most forgotten memory in our mind.