Yesterday I found this historical footage of Grey Owl on the web. Since I had seen only still images I never imagined that they were from an actual movie. It was like seeing pages leap to life. You will probably remember that Grey Owl (Archibald Bellamy) was a trapper who became a beaver advocate at the turn of the century in Canada. It was generally believed at the time that he was half native, although it later came out that he was fully British. This created somewhat of a controversy as much of Canada felt ‘duped’ by his pretense at nativity. Looking at this footage the man looks so entirely anglo I can’t imagine anyone being successfully fooled.
Regardless of his parentage, Grey Owl did remarkable, needed, powerful things to highlight the value of beavers and their plight at the time. It is no exaggeration to say he single-handedly changed the attitude towards beavers and kick-started the conservation movement. His writings are delightful and attentive to the creatures, and one of my most treasured gifts was a copy of his second book signed by “Grey Owl” himself.
In 1999 the story of Grey Owl was turned into a movie with Pierce Brosnan, directed by Richard Attenborough. Our own friend Sharon Brown helped them find beavers for the starring role, and the movie can be purchased through the Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife site. All true beaver believers should own a copy. It contains more original footage as well. Cinematically speaking, I thought the movie itself was a fairly un-climactic look at a great man’s life, and could complain about the lighting, the acting, the editing and the sound quality, but the unmatched beaver performances were FLAWLESS! Such grace and power! I liked this speech a lot.
Great beaver viewing last night. Two kits milling about enjoying willow and blackberries. Then one went over for a short time before coming back with a sibling right behind! A beaver train! We hadn’t even known one was downstream. It was too dark for footage but images of the beaver procession would have been one to treasure!
