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It is 1823. In short, the story goes like this:
While exploring the uncharted wilderness in 1823, frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) sustains life-threatening injuries from a brutal grizzly bear attack. When a member (Tom Hardy) of his hunting team kills his young son (Forrest Goodluck) and leaves him for dead, Glass must utilise his survival skills to find a way back to civilisation. Grief-stricken and fuelled by vengeance, the legendary fur trapper treks through the snowy terrain to track down the man who betrayed him.
I look at forgiveness in this article – a true story of survival. Did Hugh Glass forgive John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridges? They left him for dead in a shallow grave after a grizzly bear attack. They could not carry him for 320 km in the cold, hostile environment. Their own lives were at stake. They also faced the threat of being killed by the Pawnee tribe (indigenous Indian Tribe – Rocky Mountains, US). You will not believe it, Hugh Glass returns from the dead! He is the Revenant.
Description
EXCERPT:
At last, he gets him.
They are both bloodied, exhausted to death—the tomahawk slices through some of his fingers. The assailant looks at his hand in disbelief. He is missing a couple of them; blood starts to trickle from the exposed flesh. It tints the white snow ruby-red. The white finger bones of Fitzgerald are visible, but only for a few seconds. Instinctively he tears off a piece of his shirt – with his right hand. He wraps the dirty, shredded fabric around his hand, ready to continue the fight. The pulsing blood from his hand is under control. They are both lying on the ground. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) can’t get up; he has a severe stab wound to the back of his upper leg. His hamstring twitches from the trauma. He grabs his leg and screams.
‘AArrggghh!’
He had been chasing down John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) in the frozen water and melting snow of the mountains in Nebraska. Hugh Glass, the legendary fur trapper who survived a grizzly bear attack, had been trekking through the snowy terrain to track down the man who betrayed him – Fitzgerald had killed his son. He will pay. Glass shows the same bear-survival- determination he had modelled months ago. Glass became a legend for surviving a grizzly bear attack, left for dead, and for walking 320 Km back to the fur-trading and military camp.
Glass is ruthless, fearless, and unforgiving. Like a groaning grizzly bear, his eyes are locked onto his target – Fitzgerald. He will destroy him. He is obsessed with taking him out. Fitzgerald has to pay for taking the life of his young son. Glass will avenge his son’s death. John Fitzgerald will pay with his life.
As you’ve gathered, the true story and the legend have been turned into a movie. I watched this movie, The Revenant, in September of 2022 on the Maori TV Channel in New Zealand. The film was released in 2015, and DiCaprio won an Oscar for the leading actor’s role in 2016 at the Hollywood awards. Leonardo made a stunning speech on the night, calling for action. Over and above the list of people he thanked graciously, his focus was on saving the environment. See the 49 million views on YouTube of his speech. ‘We have to take action for our environment,’ he said.
From the author’s sketchbook. A bear attacked the legendary Hugh Glass in the 1800s. He survived the ordeal and walked 320 km to the nearest camp. Quick sketch – Ink, ink-wash and watercolours. Credit: William Van Zyl.
Fearless: The brawny and bearded Hugh Glass, an expert marksman and hunter, earned his herculean stature after battling and surviving an attack by a massive female grizzly bear during an expedition – part of the American fur trade — to the Rocky Mountains in 1823. Credit: Wikipedia & The Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3346383/Savagely-mauled-female-grizzly-Hugh-Glass-trekked-200-miles-broken-leg-exposed-ribs-maggots-ate-flesh-True-story-frontiersman-inspired-new-Leonardo-DiCaprio-movie.html
A rendition of Hugh Glass the frontier man (inspired by a sketch on the net). See the bear pelt over his shoulder. Bear fur consists of two layers, the underfur and the outer guard hairs. The underfur is soft and is used mainly to insulate. The outer guard fur is thick and long and quite coarse. Taken from the author’s sketchbook.
