The Bear
An elderly woman faces torment and exploitation at her nursing home — until an unexpected friend comes to her aid.
The decision to place a loved one in a nursing home is always difficult. Learning of abuse at a facility can turn a family’s loving decision into a nightmare. One can only imagine how frightening it is for a senior who has no family to protect them.
Margo Fleming, the protagonist in The Bear, does her best to fend off Pete’s violence. However, she is old, frail, and terrifyingly alone. Pete – a sleazy orderly – is after Margo’s teddy bear, a stuffed animal that the old woman takes with her everywhere and fearlessly defends. As a result, Pete’s convinced that the bear must harbor something valuable in its stuffing. And he’s determined to get his hands on it. By violence, if necessary.
Staff at the facility where she lives sees what’s going on, but Pete effectively scares them off by threatening to use his powerful connections to retaliate if they intervene.
As Margo comes up with strategies to thwart Pete’s plans, someone is watching… and waiting for a chance to take matters into their own hands.
Will Pete’s horrible plans be thwarted? Or will Margo become yet another senior home statistic? And, what secrets does Margo’s teddy bear hold anyway?
Writer Steven Clark’s work is suspense-filled and touching – with just the right amount of comic relief as it navigates the difficult subject of elderly abuse. Viewers will love the layers of surprises that await them in The Bear.
And there’s no doubt in our minds that festival audiences will love it as well.