When characters go into survival mode in the movies it’s usually kind of impressive to watch, but the realism of it is often brought into question given that there are plenty of people out there that might want to say something about how the movies depict such scenes. According to this expert, there are moments in the movies that are fairly accurate, but as anyone should be able to guess at this point there are several times when artistic license is taken to make the movie a little more attractive to the audience, since the realization that waving a torch in a bear’s face isn’t really a good idea, and running over ice without knowing how thick it is can be even worse. In many movies, the survival scenes are among the most unbelievable part of the movie, to begin with, but to hear that some situations might actually be accurate is pretty interesting. The Revenant, which nabbed Leonard DiCaprio his first-ever Oscar, is one of those movies that people might think is entirely unreal, but it does follow a true story, in its own way.
The story of Hugh Glass does depict how he was mauled by a bear and lived to tell the tale, and of how he did survive in the wilds on his own. How much one can believe is up for debate, but at the same time, many would think that since it’s documented many people tend to believe it. What people choose to believe and what makes the most sense is usually what keeps a movie from being entirely believable. One thing to think about when it comes to survival in the wilds is that nature is not always out to get humans. The reason that the wilds appear hostile and even worse, full of malicious intent, is that people have no idea what they’re doing in the wild and allow fear to overtake their sense of reason and rationale.
For instance, The Grey, which is mentioned in this movie, starts out with the very false pretense that wolves are bound and determined to come after humans and will see us as prey. That’s not true in the least bit, and wolves don’t generally attack humans unless there’s an absolute reason for it, much as it is with any animal. Wild animals don’t generally approach humans unless they’re used to them, such as it might happen in a well-known park where there’s no discernible danger and animals have grown used to a human presence. That’s still fairly rare, but in the case of wolves, the most likely event is that they’ll up and run, and not bother with humans unless they’ve been given a reason to stand their ground. The reasoning in this video is that Liam Neeson has found himself within the wolves’ territory, which can’t be tolerated obviously. But there’s still so much wrong with this idea of demonizing wolves for the sake of a movie. This same thing has been done with many movies, and it’s just as irritating to watch.
Another movie that people might like but doesn’t make that much sense when a person stops to think about it is Rambo: First Blood. Scores of people have actually commented on this since the movie is a lot of fun, but the survival aspects are a bit wonky to be certain. The action in this movie is great and let’s just say that there’s no disrespect intended when it comes to the survival skills taught to members of the US military, but as a deviation from the book, one among many, the traps that were laid out were actually pretty detailed considering that Rambo didn’t have a lot of time to set them up. Some folks might want to argue that he had a huge lead on the cops, but the fact is that no, no he didn’t First he had to find the dirty piece of tarpaulin that he used for his poncho, then he had to take the time to whittle down that many stakes, then shove them through a branch and somehow get the kind of tension that would send this one trap forward hard enough to puncture a human body. You know what? It’s movie magic, and Rambo had a knife and a few minutes of prep time, that’s why people would believe it.
The Hunted was kind of a joke since making your own knife without a working forge of any type in the wild is, well, not possible. Added to that is the time it takes to actually build a fire that can help shape metal. A stone knife might not be nearly as strong, but it’s definitely effective. In terms of survival, some movies are definitely at the top of their game while others are trying to keep up and failing.
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