Revenant documentary has many local ties
By Edna Sailor
Revenant is not just another movie to a number of people on Fort Berthold. It is being watched with much interest locally. So is its related documentary, ‘The World Unseen’ which features the Arikara people and how their life is today. The documentary was recorded in part on Fort Berthold. A number of Native American people on Fort Berthold have close ties to the documentary and the box office film as well as its director and the actors.
Arikara people of the 1800s play a notable role in the story of Hugh Glass, who was played by Leonardo DiCaprio, as the story of his struggle for survival unfolds in the movie. Marilyn Hudson of Parshall, Theodora Bird Bear and Joletta Bird Bear of Mandaree hosted the crew during the recording of that documentary on Fort Berthold. Theodora Bird Bear hosted the production crew for a picnic at her house.
"The crew seemed to be very interested in the oil and gas and the fracking and flaring developments on the reservation especially around Mandaree," she said.
She was unable to see the documentary when it was aired however.
Hudson explained her role and how it came to be.
"I was primarily a hostess for the film crew making this documentary. My niece Laurie Goodluck, is the mother of Forrest Goodluck. Her sixteen year old son played Hawk in Revenant. She contacted me in early August about a crew coming to Fort Berthold to work on this documentary" Hudson said.
The documentary was produced by Eliot Raush at the request of Alejandro Innaritu, the director of Revenant. It was a sort of pre-publicity documentary about Revenant to show Indian people and some of their background. The emphasis was on the land and resources of the indigenous people. It captured contemporary images of the reservation today.
