Each
year I promise myself that I will see most of the Oscar-nominated films. My
hope is always simply that I can watch the presentation program with enough meaningful
attention to the awards to ignore all the bad jokes. Unfortunately, that quest
hasn’t been exactly fruitful lately. I actually don’t believe I’ve tuned into
the Academy Awards telecast for the past several years.
This
year, though, I’ve totally surprised myself. Or let’s say, my husband, Gerry,
has surprised me. And he’s surprised himself.
He’s not a go-to-the-movies kind of guy, but this year he made it his goal to
make me one happy wife. Over the holiday
vacation and beyond, we’ve managed to see eight of the top 2015 movies
together. Add to that the three I
managed to see on my own. I’ve topped every goal I could hope for.
My
favorite film of 2015? The Finest Hours,
a film set off the coast of Cape Cod, and based on the book coauthored by local
writer Michael Tougias.
My
second favorite film of 2015? This biggest surprise (to the shock and awe of
our 17-year old grandson who considers me a wuss when it comes to violence and
suspense), is the bloody, brutal story of frontiersman Hugh Glass in the
Revenant. This was a highly unusual pick for me.
And
listen up. Spoiler alert. There is violence. There is blood.
The
story of Hugh Glass intrigued me. When I was an undergraduate history major in
college, I completed an independent study focused on western expansion, the
frontier, and background of the American cowboy. (My history professor decided
to test me to the limits of my historical and sociological interest. Or perhaps,
he didn’t particularly like me. In any event, it ended up being an enlightening
project and a test of my research skills.)
The
story of Hugh Glass, folk hero, has been told and retold many times. It is true
that his life and adventures have been embellished and idealized and it is hard
to navigate the fact from the fiction. We know for sure that Glass was born in
1783 and he died at the age of 49 or 50 in 1833. It was his last ten years of his life that
offer us the colorful tale of the man who survived the odds in the wilderness.
Frederick
Manfred wrote a five-book series (The Buckskin Man Tales). Part of that series,
his book Lord Grizzly, tells the tale of Glass who survived an attack by a
grizzly bear, and made a two-hundred mile journey to seek revenge against the
men who left him for dead. The 1954 book is not available in Minuteman libraries
in print format but you can check out the audio edition (11 hours read by Eric
Dove) on our free streaming service, Hoopla! (If you need help with Hoopla!,
please call the library.)
Associate
professor of United States history at the University of Notre Dame, Jon
Coleman, presents a historical account of Hugh Glass in his 2012 book, Here
Lies Hugh Glass, a Mountain Man, a Bear, and the Rise of the American
Nation. Another book, this one for middle
school readers, is Hugh Glass, Mountain Man. It was written in 1990 by Robert
McClung.
Glass’s
story is also included in frontier tales and compilations. They can be found on
library shelves and on Amazon.
The
recent 2015 film, the Revenant, is based on Michael Punke’s 2002 book of the
same name. It’s a novelization of the Glass story, but Punke spent years in
research (at least four) before the novel was finished. Punke is not only a
writer but a professor, policy analyst, and attorney. Currently he is US
Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Screenwriters
purchased the work of fiction before the book was actually published. That
first adaptation was unsuccessful moving the story to film. A final screenplay
was finished by Mark Smith in 2010.
The
Revenant (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy) was released in 2015 to
limited audiences and it was released to theaters worldwide after the holiday
season. Some people have remarked the Revenant could have ended at least ½ hour
earlier than it did. I disagree. The grueling pace that Hugh Glass endured for
2 hours and 36 minutes (sometimes on his belly) only enhanced the movie
experience for me.
Of
course, the Revenant is not the only film version of Hugh Glass’ life. Many of
us remember watching Man in the Wilderness in 1971 starring Richard Harris (not
to be confused with Jeremiah Johnson, 1972, starring Robert Redford.) Man in
the Wilderness is loosely based on the story of Hugh Glass (Harris plays a
character named Zachary Bass.) I invite you to live Zachary Bass’ experience,
especially those harrowing nights he spent hidden by leaves in the wilderness,
and watch the movie again or for the first time. It is now part of a two-movie
DVD (with Deadly Trackers, another Harris film.) The DVD is on backorder but we
should have it in Norwood soon.
The
Revenant takes liberty with the historical account of course. On HistoryNet
you’ll find a full of account: Hugh Glass, the Truth Behind the Revenant
Legend. There is no historical mention
of a wife or a son, both important romantic vignettes and components of the
films.
The
truth is that the real Hugh Glass eventually catches up with the men who left
him – Bridger and Fitzgerald. He forgives Bridger for being young and
impressionable; he loses the passion to kill Fitzgerald who is now a United
States soldier (and his Fitzgerald’s murder would lead to Glass’ own
execution.)
Glass
died on the frontier in 1833 in a bloody battle with the North Dakota tribe,
the Arikaras, but the legendary Hugh Glass remains fully alive for years to
come in the extraordinary movie, the Revenant. (There is no DVD release date
for the movie but the library will have it the moment the film is available for
our collection. The movie already appears in the Minuteman Library catalog and
be one of the first on our library’s request list.)
