Is The Revenant the new Jeremiah Johnson?
Is The Revenant the new Jeremiah Johnson?
Outdoor survival film captures the beauty and brutality of nature
By Tyler Frantz
Life-threatening injuries, starvation and numbing cold are just a few of the struggles real-life mountain man Hugh Glass endured as he took on the untamable wilderness in his quest for survival following a vicious bear mauling and heartless abandonment by trapping companions in the unsettled northern frontier of 1823.
According to history, this much is recorded fact. A monument honoring the Pennsylvania-born Scotts-Irish pioneer near the attack site tenders proof of his fateful encounter as part of the Ashley Fur Expedition under command of Major Henry.
But the newly released film, The Revenant, recently resurrected Glass’s tenacious story of gritty outdoor resolve, captured through vivid camera work and authentic natural lighting, while filmed on location in remote areas of the US, Canada and Argentina.
 |
| Credit: 20th Century Fox |
The motion picture already swept the Golden Globes, claiming Best Dramatic Film overall and winning Leonardo DiCaprio Best Lead Actor and Alejandro G. Iñárritu Best Director. It is already touted as a clear Oscar front-runner, but its fitting resonance among sportsmen is creating just as much of a buzz.
“It was an awesome movie,” said Bruce Wilson, owner of Wilson’s Taxidermy in Lebanon. “I feel the producers caught the essence of the outdoors, by how realistic the bear mauling scene was, just like it would happen in the woods.”
“I also like how he survived the elements, building shelters to stay out of the cold. It was very similar to Jeremiah Johnson. I loved that movie,” Wilson said.
Wilson is referring to is the 1972 western classic, in which Robert Redford plays the role of Jeremiah Johnson- a mountain transplant enduring the struggles of living off the land, vulnerable and alone in the wild. It is a longtime favorite among outdoorsmen, but The Revenant has the potential to rise to its legendary status.
“It reminded me a lot of Jeremiah Johnson,” said Kory Enck, Senior Field Rep for the National Rifle Association. “Man against nature, man against extreme harsh circumstances. I realize it was the movies, but folks today couldn't survive even the smallest amount of hardship Glass went through.”
“Hugh Glass's story has been passed on through the ages, but what is fact and fiction are hard to tell. The liberties taken by the writer really made him jump out at you. They filmed it with no artificial light whatsoever, so each scene looked very true to life,” Enck said.
“I found it intense, brutal and yet energizing,” Enck added. “As a sportsman who spends time in the outback of Colorado and Pennsylvania each year, it reminded me how close you are to having something go terribly wrong in the wilderness at any given moment.”
There was no shortage of problems for Glass, as the film accurately depicts a number of clear and present dangers early outdoorsmen would’ve faced during this volatile period in history- including a bloody and merciless Arikara Indian attack on his company’s trapping camp.
“Many of the frontiersmen, who did not intend to settle permanently, would have been trapping or hunting for profit during this time period,” said Kyle Hey, an AP History Teacher at Palmyra Area High School, who specializes in American Studies.
According to Hey, massive monopolistic fur companies sought to corner the international market by organizing large-scale trapping expeditions. This ultimately led to animal overharvest and poor relations with Native Americans.
“Both settlers and Native American hunters contributed to the population collapse of game species, whether for food or fur,” Hey said, “but I felt the movie did a fair job at portraying the profit-based incentive that drew many men west at this time.”
“Trappers were employed for the primary purpose of earning money, which often led to tensions and violence between companies and even nations. Native Americans were both victims and contributors to this violence,” he explained.
“Obviously there is nothing immoral about harvesting animals, but the system in which many of the early American sportsmen were involved is a much different structure than our modern conservation-based approach, which is responsible for the restoration of habitat and species,” Hey said.
“As a sportsman, it is easy to admire the individualism and mastery of nature presented in the film,” Hey added. “However, the warnings of the coming destruction of the buffalo seen in Glass's dreams are a reminder of how far our system of wildlife management has come. Wildlife populations have greatly benefited from the transition away from profit-based management.”
 | |
| Credit: 20th Century Fox |
Though the film is rife with graphic outdoor hunting and survival scenes, even non-hunters can appreciate the raw beauty of nature captured in the film.
“The scenery was spectacular,” said retiree Patricia Herber. “The winter wilderness was captured beautifully with the snow-laden trees, the roaring rapids and the expanse of sky.”
“Most people have no idea of how fur trappers and frontiersmen lived in that era, going against the elements and nature for their livelihood, but I felt like I was right there witnessing it,” Herber said.
“The survival scenes were a bit disturbing and haunting, such as desperately eating raw buffalo meat with blood all over it or a raw fish to stay alive. That’s not me,” Herber admitted, “but I understand why he did it. The movie truly captured the harrowing experience of a hunter determined to survive.”
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word revenant as “one that returns after death or a long absence.”
It may have taken forty-four years for a wilderness survival movie to raise the bar set by Jeremiah Johnson. However, after seeing The Revenant in theaters, the next generation of outdoorsmen might finally have a new timeless favorite to call its own.
0 Response to "Is The Revenant the new Jeremiah Johnson? "
Post a Comment