BROTHER OF THE WIND

Canada, 1973, 88 minutes, Colour.
Dick Robinson, Leon Ames (narrator).
Directed by Dick Robinson.

Brother of the Wind is set in Alaska, the sympathetic portrait of a hunter who worked with the wolves in the region – especially the protection from hunters who flew in planes, shooting the wolves from the plane. This is very much a conservation film, a film about the environment – in the spirit of the 1970s when concerns were emerging.

1. The meaning of the title in terms of the song? The meaning of freedom in nature?

2. How pleasant a film was this? How interesting? Why?

3. Comment on the beauty of Canada as presented in the film. The filming of the seasons? The presentation of the Rockies in all their seasonal beauty? How did this create an atmosphere for the film?

4. The picture of Sam Munroe as a man. Was he lonely? Too isolated? How full a life did he have? How did he fend for himself so well? His dead wife, his daughter in the city? Was he a happy man in nature? Why? Did he need other people?

5. Comment on how the picture showed humans as cruel. The invader in the plane shooting Jennie? The invader in the sled shooting one of the wolves? What comment on human cruelty did this make? How did it contrast with Sam?

6. The picture of the wolves. Did they have a right to live? The law of survival in the Rockies? The fact that they had to hunt and this was cruel? Nevertheless the balance of nature required this. Was this convincingly portrayed?

7. How good a job did Sam do with the wolves? His playfulness with the racoons? His teaching the wolves to hunt? How necessary was this for their survival? Why did he not attach himself sentimentally to the wolves? Why did he want them to live for themselves? Even to not going to his daughter’s for the winter?

8 What contribution to nature did Sam Munroe make by his looking after the wolves? How does this mean that wild life in the Rockies continues as it should? Is this a good thing?

9. How full of sentiment was the film? Was it a genuine and true film? Did it have genuine feeling for animals? How did it avoid sentimentality?

10. What is the benefit of this kind of film? For younger audiences?