‘The Revenant’ is a post-western film directed by the esteemed Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, one of Hollywood’s three amigos. Renowned for narrating captivating tales of the human experience, Innaritu’s films frequently examine themes of human suffering and resilience amidst profound obstacles, and ‘The Revenant’ exemplifies this.
The film, set in contemporary Dakota, follows the treacherous expedition of a band of hunters commanded by Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio).
‘The Revenant’ is an extraordinary narrative of endurance against mortality, serving as a source of inspiration to surmount significant challenges in life. ‘The Revenant’ received 12 Academy Award nominations and has been praised for its atmospheric epic vision and an ensemble cast of stars.
Nonetheless, the narrative would be more compelling if derived from historical accounts. Let us now investigate whether ‘The Revenant’ is based in reality. (Potential spoilers may be present, so proceed with caution).
Is The Revenant Inspired by Real Things?
‘The Revenant’ is partially inspired by a true story. The renowned Academy Award-winning picture is partly adapted from Michael Punke’s eponymous novel. The tale depicts the extraordinary experiences of huntsman Hugh Glass in the North American wilderness.
The narrative of the novel is derived from ‘The Song of Hugh Glass,’ an epic poem by John G. Neihardt’s 1915 anthology ‘A Cycle of the West.’
In the film, the huntsmen are assaulted by the Arikara Native American tribe, who are in pursuit of their chief’s daughter, resulting in the hunters sustaining injuries. A handful of fatalities occur, although the group of frontiersmen successfully flees via a boat on the Missouri River.
When Glass is assaulted by a grizzly bear, rendering him incapacitated and near death, the other party leader, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), proposes a mercy killing to alleviate his suffering and avoid the risk of another Arikara assault.
As Fitzgerald participates in conflicts and treachery, the cohesion of the gang is undermined. Meanwhile, Glass is abandoned in a ravine, compelled to regain his strength and strive for survival against formidable challenges.
This summary will enhance our comprehension of the factual origins of the narrative. The narrative of Neihardt’s epic poem commences subsequent to the Leavenworth expedition of 1823 and the ensuing Arikara War.
The conflict stemmed from a profound animosity between Arikara warriors and trappers who exploited the forests for natural resources. Historical accounts indicate that the competition between William H.
Ashley’s trappers and the indigenous tribes resulted in the fatalities of 15 frontiersmen during a struggle in which Glass sustained injuries.
The incident served as the impetus for the Arikara War, prompting the United States to mobilize an army of 1,030 personnel, comprising infantry, Sioux allies, and trappers. The Arikara villages where the conflict occurred are referred to as “the Leavenworth site” by researchers and archaeologists.
This incident elucidates the rationale behind the Arikara tribe’s assault on the group of trappers in the film, providing essential context. Nonetheless, “the chief’s daughter” seems to be a MacGuffin created to further the narrative.
The protagonist, Hugh Glass, was indeed a historical figure. He was a frontiersman in Ashley’s fur trapping expedition who was severely injured by a grizzly bear, presumed dead, yet managed to return to Fort Kiowa alone in an extraordinary accomplishment.
Following an extensive period of hardship and six weeks of perseverance, he succeeded in regaining his footing and navigating downstream on a makeshift raft to arrive at Fort Kiowa.
Nonetheless, his desire for retribution was significantly diminished compared to the Hugh Glass depicted on television, as he lacked substantial motives for vengeance. The early 19th century Dakota was a formidable landscape populated with formidable grizzly bears, and encountering one was not an unusual occurrence.
The frontiersmen, while hunting wild animals for their furs, constantly faced the latent perils of the forest.
Although an ideal historical picture is unattainable for numerous reasons, cinema can provide a compelling representation of the annals of human civilization by establishing an alternate reality.
The film’s narrative is based on the history of the northern fur trade and the conflict between Indigenous peoples and conquerors during America’s early days; however, the director exercised some creative license to dramatize the subject.
The director exerted effort to investigate and establish an atmosphere and material culture reflective of the early 19th-century socio-political landscape of the United States, a fact underscored by the involvement of Pawnee and Sahnish consultants during the film’s production.
Motivated by an authentic depiction of historical peripheries, the film effectively immerses the viewer in the depths of an industrialized and perilous continent.
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