The Revenant True Story
The Real Story of 'The Revenant' Is Far Weirder (and Bloodier) Than the Movie by Steve Friedman. True, but it was a staple of the Sioux diet. The Kickapoo revered dogs, believing they had.
(Spoilers for The Revenant ahead.)
In case you weren’t watching the Golden Globes, Leonardo DiCaprio won for starring in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant (and he also won for best response to touching Lady Gaga). His character, Hugh Glass, was mauled (and/or raped) by a bear, lost his son, and generally had a pretty rough time in his outdoors adventure. It’s an intense movie, and it’s definitely something that could only happen in a movie that’s trying really hard to get awards.
The Revenant True Story Vs Movie
But did you know that Hugh Glass is an actual person? The Revenant is based on a 2002 book by Michael Punke, who was inspired by the real life story of Glass. While a few alterations were made between the man and the account, Glass did lead an intense life. He didn’t go on the film’s expedition or seek revenge for his son (since he didn’t have one), but the fur trapper did go on a trek with Major Andrew Henry, another character in the movie.
And that infamous bear attack? Yep, that happened, too, but the fictional version left out one of the craziest moments of real life. After biting off some of Glass’ flesh, the mama bear fed it to her cubs. The real man also survived the attack and being left for dead by his men.
While he did return to civilization, it took longer than the movie suggested. Glass didn’t make it to a proper fort for two months and didn’t reunite with the men who abandoned him for another seven years. Instead of going all Inglourious Basterds on the men and their scalps, Glass forgave them.
The movie also fabricates the relationship between Glass and the Native Americans who spared him. The real story ended with Glass shot, scalp-less, and dead.
So, would you rather lose your son and get revenge after a bear mauls you, or get dead and scalped after a bear mauls you? Neither. I would be the fur trader who stays at home and doesn’t get a movie made about me.
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The Revenant True Story Wikipedia
The Revenant is the most intense thing you’ll enjoy over the holidays this side of family dinners.
Brutal and beautiful, director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s wilderness thriller (***½ out of four; rated R; opens Christmas Day in New York and Los Angeles, expands nationwide Jan. 8)showcases man’s savagery and humanity in simpler times. And Leonardo DiCaprio, his usual movie-star good looks hidden under a wild beard, gives a ferocious effort as a real-life frontiersman seeking to survive and avenge.
The Revenant is based on the harrowing true story of ace tracker Hugh Glass and his wintry journey through Montana in 1823. Glass (DiCaprio), his half-Indian son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) and the rest of a group of fur trappers are collecting pelts when they're attacked by a swarm of Native Americans, a sequence captured by Iñárritu with a sensational yet violent tracking shot.
Things get worse from there: Glass is severely mauled by a mama bear trying to protect her cubs, who've wandered nearby. The men carry Glass, seemingly close to a visit from the Grim Reaper, for a while, but the mercenary John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) wants to leave him, get home and get paid. When Fitzgerald tries to kill Glass, Hawk intervenes and is murdered, as his father looks on in horror.
Fitzgerald tells their crew that Glass is dead and they continue on, while Glass slowly recovers and tracks the men down to find his son's killer.
The Revenant, shot in all natural light, is as visually stunning as Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's Oscar-winning Birdman. It didn't make for the easiest production schedule but looks absolutely amazing onscreen, especially with some horizon shots that make the natural world around these men seem almost heavenly while they go through hell.
The filmmakers also capture the constant sense of danger that pervaded the lives of men such as Glass, and the results are not for the squeamish. The scene where Glass gets ripped apart like a chew toy is lengthy but well done, and DiCaprio sells every painful bite and clawing completely.
DiCaprio has long fostered an impressive body of work, yet this is on another level: He has very little dialogue, given that Glass spends much of the movie alone and trying not to die. He guts a horse so he can climb in and stay warm through the night, he grows more emaciated as the story progresses toward a bloody conclusion, but DiCaprio's powerful performance keeps you immersed in Glass' quest and rooting for the man.
Hardy is superbly villainous as Fitzgerald — there's not much backstory with him, which is fine, since it's better that he doesn't have any redeeming qualities. Will Poulter gets a nice supporting turn as Jim Bridger, a man caught between helping Glass and facing Fitzgerald's mighty wrath, and Domhnall Gleeson contrasts his Star Wars: The Force Awakens bad guy with a role here as good-hearted fur-trapper leader Andrew Henry.
The Revenant is a throwback look at a wild time in American history, and the team-up of Iñárritu and DiCaprio gives this era a deserving epic.