A Bear Named Winnie (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

John Kent Harrison

Writers:

John Goldsmith (writer)
John Kent Harrison (writer)

Release Date:

12 December 2004 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Based on the true story of a Canadian soldier, enroute to World War I from Winnipeg, who adopts an orphaned bear cub at White River Ontario...

Plot Keywords:

Winnipeg | Winnie The Pooh | Bear | Bear Cub | Inspiration

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Michael Fassbender	...	Lt. Harry Colebourn
Gil Bellows	...	Col. John Barret
David Suchet	...	General Hallholland
Stephen Fry	...	Protheroe the Zookeeper
Jonathan Young	...	Macray
Aaron Ashmore	...	Corporal Randy Taylor
Ted Atherton	...	Captain Elliot
Robert Gauvin	...	Sgt. Major Picard
Joshua Ballard	...	Timmy
Miriam Smith	...	Timmy's Mother
Arne MacPherson	...	Wallace
Nathan Valente	...	Evans
Stan Lesk	...	George
Chris Sigurdson	...	Major Crawford
Carson Nattrass	...	Captain Osbourn

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild thematic material and brief language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Birds Hill Provincial Park, Manitoba, Canada

Company:

Original Pictures

Trivia:

At White River Ontario (on the north shore of Lake Superior) there is a park and a large monument to Winnie the bear who became Winnie The Pooh.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The troop train is a CPR train yet the coaches are green. CP's passenger coaches were always maroon.

a Truly Moving Picture

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2005. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."

The film centers around a Canadian army veterinarian, who buys a bear cub from a hunter while on a train ride east across Canada with his army comrades. They are going to a training camp, and from there they are going to Europe to fight in World War I. For a while, the bear cub becomes an army mascot. However, the bear becomes too troublesome and the order comes down to get rid of the bear. And that is where the story gets interesting.

The young army men have a boring, uneventful life as they train for war. The bear becomes one of their centers of interest. Their other center of interest is developing relationships among each other as they prepare for the then unknown-to-them horrors of war. It becomes obvious that the real purpose of training is to develop loyalty and friendship among each other so that they can rely on each other in stressful war times.

The film has wonderful art direction and costuming and you are truly placed into the early part of the 20th century.

A.A. Milne learned of this true story and this became the basis for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Crystal Heart winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.