一个人的生存史诗

Alejandro González Inárritu, the winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Director, set his latest work on the untamed American frontier, commonly called the “Wild West”. At that time, Europeans flocked to the New World in search of raw materials and precious commodities, like animal fur. According to Eric Jay Dolin, author of the book Fur, Fortune, and Empire, a sea otter pelt was worth $100 (651 yuan) at the time, while the average laborer in the US earned only $1 or $2 a day. The growing popularity of hunting disrupted North America’s ecological balance and triggered a backlash among the Arikara Native Americans.
今年奥斯卡最佳导演奖得主，亚利桑德罗•冈萨雷斯•伊纳里多，将自己的这部新片设定在荒芜的美国边境，即我们常说的“蛮荒的西部”。那时，欧洲人涌入新大陆寻找原材料和珍贵的商品，比如动物皮草。《皮毛、财富和帝国》的作者埃里克•杰•多林写到，当时一张水獭皮能卖到100美元（约651人民币），而在美国一个劳工一天只能挣到一、两美元。捕猎热破坏了北美的生态平衡，还激起了阿里卡拉印第安人的反抗。

“[The Revenant] is the story of this country, which is basically the story of humanity,” Inárritu told Rolling Stone. “Colonialism has been [around] since man is man. In this case, it’s the 1820s, a part of history that hasn’t been explored too much in American films.”
“《荒野猎人》讲诉了这个国家的历史，从根本上说它还是一部人性史，”导演伊纳里多告诉《滚石》杂志。“从人类诞生时起，就有了殖民主义。故事中的19世纪20年代是美国电影很少触及的一个历史时期。”

The film tells the story of Hugh Glass, a trapper played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Fur traders send Glass and a team of trappers to the US West Coast to hunt, but along the way, Glass is badly injured in a grizzly bear attack. He resolves to take revenge on the colleagues who left him for dead.
电影讲诉了猎人休•格拉斯（莱奥纳多•迪卡普里奥饰）的故事。皮草贸易商派格拉斯和一队猎人前往美国西岸捕猎，但是格拉斯在途中被一头灰熊重伤。他决心向那些把他抛弃在荒野等死的同伴复仇。

Unlike his fellow fur trappers, who pursue economic gain by any means necessary, Glass is depicted as relatively respectful to the Native Americans. He even marries an aboriginal wife. He represents some of the invaders who were less greedy and inhumane.
和那些为了经济利益可以不择手段的猎人不同，格拉斯被塑造成一个尊重美洲印第安人的形象。他还娶了一位印第安妻子。他代表了那些不那么贪婪和残忍的入侵者。

US novelist Michael Punke has a book about Glass’ thrilling journey, and the film is partially based on the book. But The Revenant heightens the stakes, presenting Glass with an even more desperate predicament. In the book, Glass has a map to help him find his destination. In the film, however, he’s left clueless, with no map to tell him how long a journey he has to face or whether he can hope for survival.
美国小说家迈克尔•庞克曾写过一本关于格拉斯惊险之旅的书，电影采纳了书中的部分内容。不过《荒野猎人》中格拉斯所处的困境则更为艰难。书中，格拉斯还有一张地图帮他找到目的地。而在电影中，他被独自抛下，毫无头绪，手边也没有地图告诉他前面将会有多长的旅程等着他，他甚至不知道是否能生还。

People often say that, compared with nature, man is insignificant. Yet the film depicts humankind’s tenacious vitality under intolerable conditions. Glass survived a frozen river, gunfire, and a grizzly bear mauling. Just as the line on the movie poster says, he’s “one who has returned, as if from the dead.”
常言说，和自然界相比，人类十分渺小。而这部电影则描述了人类在极端条件下的顽强生命力。不论是面对冰冻的河水、子弹的袭击，还是灰熊的攻击，格拉斯都挺了过来。正如电影海报上所写，他“死里逃生”。

At the beginning of the film, Glass says to his son, “As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe... Keep breathing.” That’s the essence of this survival epic.
电影一开始，格拉斯就对儿子说：“只有你一息尚存，就要抗争。深呼吸……不要间断，一直深呼吸。”这正是这部生存史诗的精髓。