“Each year, tourists flock to Churchill, Manitoba, to witness polar bears in the wild during their annual migration. As bears become habituated to humans, they pose a greater danger to people and to themselves. The town of Churchill has a wildlife-management program to keep nuisance bears away.”
When I clicked on The New Yorker‘s Nuisance Bear, I was expecting a decently lengthy documentary with somewhat exciting, somewhat boring narration about the bear problem in Churchill, Manitoba. Instead, I got 14 minutes of gorgeous shots telling the story of a small town’s struggle with tourists and bears, and absolutely no narration or music. Somehow, with little to no context, we’re able to learn quite a lot about this Canadian town.
Though I understand why polar bears have to be removed from populated towns, I found myself feeling bad for the bear, seeing the wildlife-management’s truck as a sort of mechanic monster and the camera-covered tourists as a sick and twisted crowd, only there to watch the bear fail. In short, this was an incredibly enjoyable and somewhat peaceful film. Give it a watch, it’s wicked cool!
Image Credit: NewYorker via Vimeo