Saw Richard Attenborough’s “Grey Owl” on TV. (Saw “Gandhi” in my elementary school years.) It featured Pierce Brosnan as Archie Belaney, a.k.a. “Grey Owl.” Based on a true story.
Loved the movie. Like “The King of Masks,” it touched on the relationship between living an authentic, passion-filled life and merely “playing” a role/part. Or more derogatorily, merely “faking” it.
Can one live an authentic life when one is engaged in a deception? Can one have “authority” when “authenticity” is lacking? What does it mean to be “authentic”?
Canada. The 1930′s. Archie “Grey Owl” was part-Indian (North American, not Hindu). He earned his living as a forest guide, as well as trapping and hunting forest animals. He also wrote articles about hunting and the Indian way of life in some magazine.
At first, it might seem that the film is a simple love story between Grey Owl and his wife Pony(?), or even between man and nature. The resolute Pony, though younger than Archie, in many ways becomes his “teacher.” Through her influence, he stops trapping beavers, and eventually becomes a spokesperson for the preservation of forests and caring for this world. But as the viewer gets to discover with Pony hitherto unknown things about the secretive Archie, he becomes more aware of the tension between “fakery” and “authenticity” in Archie’s heart.
Annoyed by his new job as a “forest-park keeper,” Grey Owl ranted about the irritations of the job and his need to go some place else. “If you want to be as you are, why do you dye your hair then?” Pony asks.
Stumped, Archie answers, “So I’m a fake.” And here, as we might expect, Pony talks about not caring whatever color he dyes his hair, she loves him for: “being you, and being proud of who you are.”
But was Archie really proud of who he was? Why the silence then about his past? Why the inconsistencies in his story? (He initially tells Pony that his mother is Scottish. Later, he tells an interviewer that his mother was Apache and his father, Scottish.)
Upon the publication of his book on the wilderness, the publishers wanted him to tour and promote it in England. He adamantly refused, incensed at the thought of being up for display, being gawked at, wearing feathers, etc. Pony prevailed upon him, pointing out that it was no longer simply about his personal convenience. It was about the opportunity to make a difference to a larger audience.
Archie “Grey Owl” goes to England, promoting his book, which became a huge success.
One night, during one of his talks, “Grey Owl” notices two old women in the audience.
The next day, he visits the old women. His aunts. And we the viewers get to visit the house where he grew up. We find his room filled with all sorts of toys and paraphernalia and books about Indians, writing awards in school, etc.
Archie “Grey Owl” Belaney was never an Indian. He was simply a kid obsessed with a dream: to live the life of an Indian in the wilderness. And live his dream he did.
Upon his return to Canada, he was brought to a big gathering of Indian chiefs. The elders wanted to meet him. He didn’t have the heart to continue with the deception. He told his wife Pony the truth, which he never had the courage to reveal (because Pony, herself with Indian blood, fell in love with him knowing he was an Indian). What if you find out that the person you loved all the while was not really the person you knew? That his/her very “identity” is founded on a lie?
Pony answers: “I fell in love with you, in spite of the trappings (i.e, the “hunting,” but could also refer to the “costume”). I fell in love with you because there was simplicity and necessity in your actions.”
Inside the tent, Archie approaches the elders in a hushed silence. After the introductions, the Chieftain looks at the white man with blue eyes in front of him. He smiles and pats the cheek of Archie and eventually breaks into laughter, as if penetrating into Archie Grey Owl’s secret, as if sharing in that big joke that the most famous Indian spokesperson is not even an Indian. Everyone in the room joins in the laughter. The chieftain welcomes Grey Owl as their brother by giving him a necklace and inviting him to dance with the rest of them. He tells him through the interpreter: “To follow a dream is good. You have dreamed well.”
Grey Owl’s secret was eventually discovered by a reporter who came to him. Grey Owl tells him to come to his speaking engagement and listen to what he has to say before he decides on what to write or not to write. That night (his last speaking engagement), Archie Grey Owl asks the crowd what was the big attraction? He removes his Indian costume one by one (except the pants, of course), and reveals his true color (white). The reason why he had the courage to stand up and speak there before them was not because of who he was but because of what he knew: that if we didn’t take care, it’s not only the beaver which might be put in danger of extinction. That together, we could all make a difference.
—
“Grey Owl” may be regarded as a fake. A charlatan. Yes, he didn’t take advantage of other people. But he passed himself off as someone he wasn’t. He was a deceiver. A liar. A king of masks.
And yet, there was a genuine desire for him to live a simple, uncluttered life in the wilderness. To become an Indian.
What does it mean to be an Indian? (Likewise, what does it mean to be a Filipino?)
Identity manifests itself through the external trappings, the masks of appearances. And yet simultaneously goes beyond it.
“Grey Owl” might not have a drop of Indian blood in him, but to all extents and purposes, he was as Indian as Indian can be. He was authentic as authentic can be.
Identity is determined more by what we do than what we have or say. There is no greater authority and authenticity than that of action.
—
How does one become a saint or live a virtuous life? Blaise Pascal says (in “Pensees”) that it is by living one’s life AS IF one already is.
You want to become a saint, a “Buddha,” an artist, a writer, a musician, a loving person?
Then act as if you already are.
Sure, it would feel weird at first, as if one is living a life of fakery. But that is how an actor prepares for a role: he owns a character’s identity through rehearsal (in french, “la repetition”). He does things again and again, until they become second nature.
In real life, where there is no rehearsal, you become the kind of person you want to be by ACTING (imitating and doing) as if you already are that kind of person.
In Zen Buddhism, religious training and Enlightenment are one.
Charlatans can become saints.
It is a matter of seeing. The conflict between fakery and authenticity was in Archie Grey Owl’s (and others’) limited perception of what it meant to be Indian.
Who are you?
Become who you are!
Live. Act. Be.
For we already are! (Always were, always will be. It is we ourselves who refuse to see.)
best regards,
chamel-ian
Tags: Archie Belaney, Authenticity, Fakery, Grey Owl, Identity, Richard Attenborough
Could not agee with you more..