The Grey - A Review
There's a new movie coming out this Friday for all of you survivalists out there entitled, "The Grey". This
movie has Liam Neeson cursing god and fist fighting wolves at the same time.
Elements of winter survival come into play as Liam's plane crashes in the Alaskan Wilderness.
An expert hunter, a bunch of macho guys stuck in the wilderness. Who will survive?
Many critics have pointed out the pattern that Joe Carnahan (The "A" Team Remake, Schindler's List)
regularly engages in with Liam Neeson.
The plot line goes something like this:
A brooding man in his late 50's, and on the verge of suicide gains redemption by getting an opportunity to
beat the pulp out of some euro-trash bad guys.
In this instance the bad guys are replaced by a C.G.I. version of a wolf complete with demonic glowing
eyes.
Animal rights activists won't like this film because they'll feel that depiction of wolves as evil beasts will
encourage over hunting of this animal.
This makes sense because the grey wolf was almost completely wiped out in the U.S. due to rancher's
efforts to protect their livestock and a general spreading of misinformation about the animal's actual
behavior.
Their numbers dwindled to the point that in 1976, through the effort of enforcing The Endangered Species
Act, a ban was placed on hunting the Grey Wolf.
This action was a god-send for the Wolf. There numbers are now well over 1,700, well over the projected
goals of the Endangered Species Act.
The hunting ban has recently been lifted in Idaho because the increase in wolf population.
The increase in population means more young males to compete for the Alpha male position in the wolf
pack.
This results in the death of the pack leader or the ejection of the young wolf.
This specific circumstance has ocurred recently in Oregon where a young wolf
needed to find a new territory to hunt for a mate to start a wolf pack of his own.
I don't have a problem using archetypal story lines in movies. All stories come from an older previous
stories going back to the days when humans drew pictures on cave walls.
The symbolism of the wolf goes back far in human history.
This strong connection between humans and wolves is not just a literary device of some hack movie
director.
We now know, due to DNA analysis, that all dogs are descendants of the Grey Wolf.
We know that dogs were bred by prehistoric man to help him survive by helping with many survival tasks.
Providing security, aiding in hunting, warfare, transporting cargo, and companionship are among some of
the roles the animal has played for humans. In many cases, they were kept as livestock. The dog breed
Chow Chow is a testament to this. The animal's relatives are raised for food in many parts of Asia.Next
time you say, "I'm going to get some 'chow'", you'll know where the name came from.