Mais Forte que a Vingança

There are many films which personify the era of the Mountain Man. This is perhaps one of the best. The reason why it is at the top of the list, is due in part to director Sydney Pollack's selection of natural wonders, majestic scenery and simplistic storyline. The movie tells the story of Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) a veteran of the Mexican American war who decides to journey into the High Alpine Rockies to become a Mountain Man. Based very loosely on the novel by Vardis Fisher, the hero seeks the life of a trapper which offers Solace, wild adventure, aboriginal encounters and a chance for legendary exploits. During the first years of his experience, Johnson is befriended and threatened by both Native Americans and crazed mountain veterans who teach him and endanger him as well. Among the best is 'Bear Claw, Chris Lapp' (Will Geer), 'Paints His Shirt Red' (Joaquin Martinez) and Del Gue (Stefan Gierasch). (Delle Bolton) plays Swan and Josh Albee) is Caleb who become part of an instant family. The film is quite picturesque in its beautiful seasonal settings and entertaining to anyone seeking a chapter in the bygone era of a vanished breed. ****

Sydney Pollack's return to the western four years after THE SCALPHUNTERS was to be a completely different experience. Following the trials and tribulations of a deserter of the Mexican War who disappears in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to become a mountain man, JEREMIAH JOHNSON eschews the conventions of the western as a genre in such a way as was only made possible for American cinema in the tumultuous era of early 70's with such visceral movies of frontier survival as MAN IN THE WILDERNESS and A MAN CALLED HORSE paving the way.

As Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) wanders the mountains like a fugitive stricken by disaster, a solitary figure against awe-inspiring backdrops of massive rock formations, steep ravines and expansive mesas, you can tangibly feel the film, like the hero, transcending the specific time and place and breaching out vision to become an all-encompassing spiritual journey where the individual characters - fur trappers, bear hunters or Indians - are merely the unwitting parners in a dance of death.

Some viewers may be put off by the lack of straight-forward plot, the episodic, repetitive nature of the movie or the long stretches of silence, but it's from those exact things the movie takes its power. JJ comes unto its own in those small moments of quietude, in Johnson's silent encounters with indians, in the barren, unforgiving wastes of the craggy mountains that reflect so well the psychology of characters wandering in their shadow, in the subtle, heartwarming interactions Johnson has with the Indian woman he's taken for a wife and the mute boy he's taken for a son. There's hardly a word uttered between this peculiar family the entire movie but the ways they learn to overcome the barriers that separate them is a touching sight to behold.

There is some dated montage, a corny soundtrack; how much of this will affect your enjoyment will boil down to your affinity with how cinema was in the 70's. Still, what is left is this beautiful parable of broken humans learning to be whole again. Equal parts visceral, savage and heartwarming.

Jeremiah Johnson is a starkly simple story well told. It is the journey of a man who seeks to re-make himself. Johnson becomes disillusioned, like Thoreau and even Ulysses S. Grant, by the Mexican War and deserts to become a mountain man. There he finds the Rockies starkly beautiful and completely without mercy for him or anyone else. Will Geer plays the older trapper who teaches the 'Pilgrim,' a very solid performance by Redford, how to survive. The film's treatments of Whites and Native Americans is profoundly even handed, and Milious's fingerprints are noteworthy in the robust and calculated course of the narrative.

I have always considered this one of my favorite "rainy Saturday

afternoon" movies. The scenery is wonderful, Redford does one of his

best performances, the characters are colorful, and it is a wonderful

story of the pioneer spirit. Then, a few years ago, a good friend told me he had the book about the

real "Liver Eatin' Johnson", about whom this movie was made. He lent

me the book to read - and I highly recommend it for anyone interested

in a first- and second-hand story of the old west. The real story of Johnson is greatly removed from the movie, though

there are many parts in common as well. Most notably absent is the

fact that Johnson would remove and partially eat the liver (raw) of the

Crow braves he would kill. This was done by Johnson to scare the Crow,

who believed their soul would wander the earth forever if the body was

not buried intact. Johnson was also known to have eaten meat from the

leg of a Blackfoot indian, whose tribe had captured him to sell to the

Crow. This incident, however, appears to have been more for survival,

as Johnson had to travel for several days through snow on foot after

escaping the Blackfoot. Johnson was a well traveled man, friend to more than the movie

suggests, and finally died of old age in Los Angeles in 1899. His

actual age is subject to dispute, but he was at least 75 yeard old.

During his long life, he met up with many recognizable characters from

the old west. I leave the names for you to discover in your reading -

it is well worth the time!

Jeremiah Johnson is unlike most films of its kind, which is a subgenre of the adventure film that follows a lone mountain man disillusioned by society who escapes to the frontier in order to become one with nature and reinvigorate himself. Strange how women never do this. Anyways, Robert Redford is surprisingly effective as the quiet, tough and determined title character who remains focused on his ultimate goal of remaining aloof and alone from all connections to anyone.

Unfortunately, he is bamboozled into a most peculiar family situation involving a mute son of a crazy pioneer woman and the daughter of a French-speaking Native American chief. In the end, what director Sydney Pollack is all about is showcasing how nature can indeed salve some of our pain and make us feel more comfortable with our situations. Nevertheless, true relationships with people cannot be substituted. Beautiful photography, strong performances and a most intriguing storyline all help create a very interesting film that is worth multiple views and considerable think time.