In 2016, the film "The Revenant", based on Michael Punke's novel of the same name, won three awards at the 88th Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Cinematography, bringing Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu to the Academy Award for Best Director, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to win the Academy Award for Best Cinematography three times, and of course, the most important thing is that Leonardo DiCaprio finally ended his 20-year "running" career. Won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the first time.
The Wilderness Hunter uses natural light, ultra-wide angles, and long lenses to create the ultimate imagery that shows the vastness and coldness of the North American wilderness.
The plot of the film is based on the real experience of Hugh Glass, a legendary fur hunter during the pioneering period of the American West.
In 1823, Hugh Grass was employed by the Rocky Mountain Fur Company on a hunt deep into the Wild West. During a reconnaissance trip, Hugh Glass was attacked by a grizzly bear, and although he struggled to kill the grizzly bear, he himself was seriously injured and nearly dead. The expedition arranged for two teammates to stay behind to take care of Glass and to bury him after his death, but the two men soon abandoned the dying Glass in the wilderness and took his guns and belongings with them.
But Hugh Glass survived with a strong will to survive and rich wild survival skills and unleashed an epic revenge...
The Revenant is set in the 1823 U.S. Territory of Missouri. At the beginning of the film, Glass's hunter team collects beaver skins in the upper Missouri River, but suddenly they are attacked by Indians, who have to abandon a large number of furs and retreat downstream along the river to the Kiova trading post downstream.
The Missouri Territory from 1812 to 1816, on August 10, 1821, the southeastern portion of the territory joined the Union under the name of Missouri
Kiova Trading Post in the movie The Revenant
Fort Kiowa, located in South Dakota, was once an important stronghold for the fur trade. The terrain around Fort Chiova is complex. It is located close to the Missouri River, the towering Rocky Mountains to the west, and the Great Plains to the east. Diverse geographical conditions bring about a diversity of flora and fauna. In the movie, beavers, bison, and deer appear in herds, attracting a large number of hunters. Grizzly bears and wolves lurking in the shadows could threaten the lives of hunters at any time. Where opportunity and deadly danger coexist, it is the charm of the West.
The same period is located in Fort Floyd, North Dakota
In the nineteenth century, South Dakota was part of the "Frontier Zone" at the time. The so-called "border strip" is a narrow corridor on the west side of the Great Plain, stretching from the Canadian border in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. In 1803, the United States purchased the Great Plains along the Mississippi River (2.14 million square kilometers) from Napoleon for $15 million (80 million francs), doubling the territory of the United States (louisana purchasing). For the United States, the deal was a bargain, with only 3 cents per acre of land. More importantly, Napoleon's troops were withdrawn from the North American continent, giving the Americans a sigh of relief. For Napoleon, although the territory of North America is vast, it is only a sparsely populated wasteland after all. Napoleon was busy conquering the European continent, and the money from the sale of land was just enough to expand military spending, while at the same time sending goodwill to the United States, hoping that the United States could contain its old enemy, the British. In this way, as part of the purchase of land, the "border zone" was packaged and sold to the United States.
In 1803, Louisiana purchased the location and area
But this land purchase also left a lot of problems. Early colonists planted flags and boundary stones on the ground and claimed ownership of a large area of land. In this context, the territorial definition of North America is extremely vague and often overlaps. France's control over the Midwest was only a few outposts. The Louisiana land purchase immediately sparked a dispute between the United States and Spain. Spain, which expanded north from Mexico, treated both Texas and New Mexico as its own land. It is believed that France has no right to resell and the United States has no right to buy. The Spanish-American conflict was resolved in 1819. In addition to Spain, the British were equally disgruntled. The act of sending money to Napoleon by the Americans annoyed the British, who were at war with Napoleon. At the same time, the British also expanded westward in Canada, competing with the United States, which had expanded westward during the same period. Even the colonies set up by the French themselves were reluctant to accept U.S. administration, often secretly creating trouble. In the film, the French secretly acquire furs and support the confrontation between the Indians of the Aricara tribe against the Americans.
As a result, wild nature and violent clashes between different groups of people have become the symbol of the "border zone".
Records of Hugh Glass's story date back to 1825. James Hall, a Philadelphia lawyer and amateur novelist, first recounted Hugh Glass's experience in the supplement of the local newspaper The Port Folio: he was born Pennsylvania to parents who were immigrants from northern Ireland (hence his hardiness genes). He is said to have been captured by pirates in the Gulf of Mexico in 1816 and forced to be a pirate for two years. Later, he seized the opportunity to escape successfully, but was soon captured by the Bonni tribe, but instead of being killed, he married a girl from the tribe. In 1821 he and his wife were allowed to leave the tribe and move to St. Louis, and later served several times as messengers and interpreters for negotiations between the Bonnis and the U.S. federal government.
Hugh Glass
In 1822, William Henry Ashley, the founder of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and Andrew Henry (captain in the film) advertised in the newspaper that they were going to recruit a team of 100 young explorers who would explore along the Missouri River over a period of 1 to 3 years and reach its source, and finally reach the Rocky Mountain, during which time the main task of the team was to obtain precious beaver furs.
By this time, Hugh Glass, who was over 40 years old, was already a well-known fur hunter and explorer, and after seeing the advertisement, he decided to join the team.
In the world trading system at that time, fur trade accounted for a large proportion. Fur-made clothing has always been popular with European high society. The beaver skin is warm, soft and comfortable, and is a treasure in fur. The top hat loved by English gentlemen was made of beaver skin. Just like contemporary luxury goods, expensive beaver skin hats have many touted benefits, such as enhancing memory, restoring hearing, and so on. Even excluding superstitious claims, the beaver skin hat can indeed reveal the identity of the wearer. European beavers are hunted in large numbers, but they still can't meet the demand for fashion. It wasn't until the tailors saw the beaver fur coats worn by the distant-water fishermen that they knew that North America on the opposite shore was also rich in beavers. For a time, beaver hunting became the hottest business in the Midwest and Canada. The French, in the Midwest of the United States, as well as the British colonies in Canada, were all designed to control the beaver skin trade. Beaver skins account for nearly half of the fur exports in Britain and France.
Oscar Wilde, a famous satanist in a beaver fur coat
The North American fur trade in the narrow sense refers only to the hunting and exchange of good quality furs, especially beaver skins. At that time, beavers were distributed in most parts of North America, estimated to be between 10 million and 40 million, and the fur trade in a broad sense also included the exchange of other animal leathers, such as white-tailed deer skins in southeastern North America, reindeer and elk skins in the Northwest, and bison skins on the prairies. However, the beaver skin trade is the core of the entire fur trade, and in the process of exchange, the furs of other animals and the goods exchanged are converted into beaver skins. For example, at the Hudson Bay Company's Elk River Fur Station in James Bay in 1733, 1 fine beaver skin can be exchanged for the following items: 1/2 pound beige beads, 3/4 pound colored beads, 1 brass pot, 1 pound lead bullet, 1.5 pound gunpowder or 2 pounds of sugar.
North American beaver
Beavers are animals that live by water. The reason why the expedition in the movie has to explore along the river is to find the beavers at the water's edge. Beavers, known as "nature's dam engineers," use branches to build dams on river streams. Beavers have weak land mobility and self-defense, and they are timid by nature, so they must rely on tricky methods to avoid the attack of land fields. They build dams that ensure that water levels are higher than some of the openings of beaver caves, making them relatively safe underwater escape routes. But beaver's seemingly clever strategy is exploited by hunters. Hunters can set traps at the underwater exit to booby trap beavers who want to escape in panic. They can also block underwater escapes, destroy caves, and catch beavers alive. For skilled hunters, catching dozens of beavers a day is not a problem. As early as 1787, Canada alone exported 140,000 beaver skins. Under the frenzy of hunters, beavers in an area will soon become extinct. Hunters have to keep going deep into the west in search of new beaver habitats.
Traps for hunting beavers
Beaver hunters have traveled all over the border and accidentally become pioneers of exploration, opening the door to the west for others. New economic opportunities then emerged: farming, livestock, mining, gold panning... At the same time, the beaver skin trade itself was in decline. New fashion trends have promoted silk hats, beaver skin hats have become obsolete, and demand for beaver skins in Europe has declined.
Initially, Europeans and whites in the colonies were not personally involved in the fur hunt, but exchanged furs with Indians for muskets, gunpowder, knives, and other daily necessities. Later, they gradually found that this method was difficult to meet their huge demand for fur.
"Mountain Man", this profession came into being. They slept rough, hunted the furs of rare animals in the perennially inaccessible western regions, and sold them abroad through the fur trading companies of the higher levels. They were front-line migrant workers in the fur trade, and at their peak from 1820 to 1840, the number of mountain people active in the Rocky Mountains reached more than 3,000-5,000.
Mountain people at that time
Mountain people need to master the skills of survival in the wilderness, and Glass in the movie can build a fire, fish, and treat wounds in a condition of lack of tools. Mountain people often also master several languages and dialects of different tribes, so that they can communicate with different ethnic groups and avoid unnecessary conflicts. In the dangerous wilderness, mountain people need to beware of wild beasts, bandits and Indians who are only warriors, so they must have skillful fighting skills. Among the equipment carried, weapons such as knives, axes, firearms, gunpowder, bullets and so on are the most basic parts of the equipment. And the tough and tough spirit like the mountain is the last weapon of the mountain people against nature, and it is also the legacy they left to the history of western pioneering.
The mountain people of that time usually maintained good relations with the local Indians
The mountain people are divided into three types: one is the Engages, whose everything is supplied by the fur company, and all the furs they hunt are handed over to the company, and the company pays him a salary. The other are share croppers and skin trappers, whose companies equip them and deduct proportionally from the skins they harvest at the end of the season. At the top are the Free-trappers, who come and go freely, unrestricted by fur companies, and sell the fur they hunt to the company. The price of freedom is, of course, to bear the loss yourself when the market price fluctuates or the harvest is not good.
The famous mountaineer of the 19th century, Seth Kinman, is said to have hunted about 800 grizzly bears in his lifetime
At that time, the North American fur trade had two routes, and the mountain people participated along the Rocky Mountains. They travel in groups, with beavers as their main prey. The caught skins are traded on the annual rendezvous market and then sold to the major cities.
Another fur trade route, which originated in the upper Missouri River, relied mainly on buffalo skin trade between various Native American tribes and white trading points, and ended in st. Louis City downstream. The two routes may seem to be clearly demarcated on the surface, but conflicts of interest also occur from time to time. Due to the consideration of the terrain environment, capital expenditure, Indian tribal public opinion and other factors, trading companies will flexibly mobilize the resources of mountain people and Indian tribes in their hands to obtain animal furs as much as possible.
Rocky mountains
In the summer of 1823, Hugh Glass joined Andrew Henry's expedition to explore the upper Missouri River. As depicted in the film, the expedition was ambushed by the Arikala of the Indian tribe and suffered heavy losses. Considering that further attacks would result, some of the team, including Grasse, planned to detour inland towards the Yellowstone River.
On a subsequent solo exploration mission, Grass alarmed a female grizzly bear guarding her cubs. The adult female grizzly bear was nearly two meters long and weighed nearly four hundred pounds, but Glass miraculously killed the grizzly bear with only the dagger in her hand. When his teammates finally arrived at the scene and saw the dead Grizzlies lying on the half-dead Glass, they were amazed and lamented that Glass's life was short. Most of the team continued on their march, leaving two volunteers, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger, to care for Glass and to bury him after his death. Who would have thought that three days later Grass would still be dying, with no sign of dying. The two volunteers, fearful of the Indians' pursuit, decided to send Glass early. They draped him with a bear skin, covered him with a thin layer of leaves, and before leaving, they took all of Grasse's guns and equipment with them.
Illustration depicting Hugh Glass's fight with the Grizzlies
North American Grizzly Bears
Grass was unconscious for an unknown amount of time, and finally woke up alone on the dangerous Indian territory. Although the real time of the event was summer, not the cold winter depicted in the movie, this did not reduce the difficulty too much. At this time, his scalp was almost completely torn off, the flesh on his back was completely torn apart, revealing the bones of white flowers, and his throat was also torn open by the grizzly bear, and the wound spewed blood from time to time when breathing. The most recent support is at the Kiova trading post 200 miles away. But the problem was that the badly injured Glass also had a broken leg and could not stand up.
At this point, the resentment of revenge drove Glass to climb his way back with his bare hands. On September 9, 1823, he set out south, and after two months of creeping and 100 miles, he reached the Cheyenne River in North Dakota, where he drifted down the river from a raft made of falling wood and drifted all the way down the river to the Chiova Trading Post. After months of recuperation, Grass gradually returned to normal.
Depending on the narrative version, his total journey varied from one hundred and fifty kilometers to three hundred and twenty kilometers. But all versions invariably marvel at Glass's tenacity. He fixed the broken bones with branches and rags, and allowed the maggots to eat the rotting flesh from his wounds. Due to his lack of equipment, he makes a living from wild fruits and tree roots, as in the movies. He also drove away the wolves with torches and snatched some beef raw to eat. An Indian helped him en route, and in addition to bandaging his wounds, the Indians gave Grasse food and weapons to give him the ability to eventually reach the Kiova trading post.
Grass continued to track down Fitzgerald and Bridger, first finding Jim Bridger, a 19-year-old who still works in the fur trade. Faced with such a hopeful young man, Glass forgave him. Bridger later became one of the most famous pioneers in American history (exploring the Yellowstone region and the Great Salt Lake).
Jim Bridger was an explorer, army guide, and scout in the American Western Frontier period active in the 1820s and 1840s
By the time Glass found Fitzgerald, the latter had already joined the army. At that time, no matter when and where for whatever reason, it was always illegal to kill a soldier. In desperation, Glass took back his rifle from Fitzgerald, which can also be regarded as completing his "revenge".
Hugh Glass Monument
Hugh Glass eventually returned to the upper Missouri River and returned to his old business as a mountaineer hunting beaver fur.
In 1833, Hugh Glass died in a battle with the Aricara Indians.
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bibliography:
Mountain Man, Wikipedia
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