Beaver fever

>> Nature film La Rivière aux castors tells
an uneven adventure tale with
an all-wildlife cast

by MALCOLM FRASER

If you ever mourn the dearth of old-school nature films, you’re in luck—they seem to be having a renaissance. First there was last year’s An Arctic Tale, in which rampant anthropomorphizing and environmentalist hectoring were imposed on footage of polar bears and walruses gaily frolicking in the North Pole. Now that national icon, the beaver, steps into the spotlight with La Rivière aux castors, an all-wildlife adventure ostensibly for the whole family.

A young beaver, brought up by a single mother after the father is devoured by wolves, dreams of exploring the world beyond their dam. In an illustration of the principle “be careful what you wish for,” he gets carried downriver on a log, and has to fend for himself in the treacherous forest, then return in time to save his family from a forest fire.

The whole story is shot using actual beavers and other wildlife. With even more of an imposed narrative than Arctic Tale, it reminded me of Hammy the Hamster—the drama with an all-hamster cast, dressed up in little costumes, that memorably aired in the three-channel universe of my childhood. The sheer amount of sedatives undoubtedly used on the Hammy cast is terrifying to contemplate, and I would have thought this style of filmmaking was left in the past, but La Rivière aux castors brings it back, with wild animals at that (although minus the costumes).

In other words, speculation about how these non-domesticated animals can be trained to perform is more than a little distracting from the story. When the beavers are attacked by wolves, or when their forest is set on fire, you can’t help but wonder how the beaver thespians, let alone PETA, feel about the whole thing.

Director Philippe Calderon previously brought us last year’s La Cité interdite, another nature film in which an ant army lays siege to a termite colony. Although that was full of Darwinian drama and grotesque imagery that still gives me nightmares, La Rivière aux castors is much more gentle and family-friendly. Trouble is, most kids I know would get twitchy during the numerous slow parts, whereas adults may find their minds drifting to peripheral thoughts like the ones above.

La Rivière aux castors opens
this Friday, Feb. 22

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