Filmmaker and naturalist Casey Anderson has traveled to Alaska to observe the transition of grizzly bears preparing for the winter. However, although he is surrounded by much younger animals, he finds himself gravitating to the old bears. As he observes their final weeks, Casey meditates on what these bears could teach humans about a life well lived and age gracefully accepted. Through personal reflections, he processes the aging process and growing decline of his own father, how having children has affected his own perspective of life and death, and what it means to surrender to the wild.

 

Through poetic, surprising, and contemplatively paced footage of the old bears and the stunning Alaskan landscapes, we share in Casey’s observations about transitions and death in the wilderness. It is set to a haunting original score by M. G. Clark. Through the artful melding of the words and images, the old bears become guides into a life gracefully lived.