What To Know About 'The Revenant' Before You See The Movie

The Story of Hugh Glass and those of many other figures from the fur trapping era are so inundated with legend that sometimes it's hard to tell truth from fiction. Michael Punke discusses this in the historical note at the back of the novel, which surely makes Leonardo DiCaprio's job of portraying a once-living figure a little easier. But as for how the book relates to the film, which may win DiCaprio the credit he deserves as an actor, there are some changes. There are features that may or may not be left out which define the spirit of the story and the period in which it is set.

Written in 2002, The story follows the gruesome experience of Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, and others who went west before everybody else with the disappointing illusion that they would live the lives of rich men. On one such excursion, Glass, the central character, is mauled by a bear along the Grand River. After weeks on the precipice of life and death, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company leader, Andrew Henry, decides it's time to stop dragging the mortally wounded frontiersman across the plains. This leads is the start of Glass's journey towards survival and ultimate revenge.

As Hugh slips intermittently between the real world and a terrifying subconscious, John Fitzgerald and Jim Bridger (yes, the famous mountain man) are left to wait for him to die in order to give him a proper burial. This doesn't happen.

Glass's most prized possession in life is his Anstadt Rifle, a piece of fine craftsmanship and deadly function. As a prisoner of the pirate Jean Lafitte in his seafaring days, Glass escaped the destruction of Campeche with one thing. his rifle. Taking to a life on the American plains, the weapon is as precious as a child. So when the rifle goes missing, Hugh Glass drags himself from the stupor of near death and drags himself hundreds of miles to find and punish the men who left him to die. He begins his journey by crawling.

Now, if you start this book, go into it knowing that you will cringe. You might even have a few hunger pains as Glass struggles to feed himself in his injured state. But press forward bravely knowing that there is probably a Chipotle just down the street from where you live. Also know that the film, although yet to be released, is already shaping up to be quite different from the film. Glass doesn't lose a rifle to John Fitzgerald, but a son. Because only a book could make rifle seem important enough to pursue slow, painful vigilante justice over.

The Revenant is a story that traverses the plains over the course of nearly a year. Glass experiences injury, starvation, frigid cold, and hostile Indians. This was the daily struggle for frontiersmen in the first half of the 19th century and it's presented in a way that makes the reader feel the passion and despair of the men who made their living in the unknown.

But the desperation of frontier life isn't the only thing I hope the filmmakers can communicate to the audience on screen. A major part of the novel expresses the wanderlust that drove men from their hometowns, inspired by the parts of the map marked Terra Incognita and the journey of Lewis and Clark. That is why the Western genre persists in our culture. Because these men had the opportunity to explore at a time when there were still places on Earth readily explored. It's a fantasy. A cultural wet-dream that is more than just violence and machismo.

The Revenant is in theaters December 25th.

Pictured: Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass