Eight Below

[skyeboxer]

Has anyone seen it? Sledder in artartica has to leave his dogs, can't get back to them and they free themselves and survive for six months?

It's a Disney film so obviously there is a Bambi thing going on, but I'd really like to know a couple of things,

The last two dogs are specified as Malamutes. So what are the others?

He says of the last two of the team, (the Mals) that they are there for brawn not brain. Is there any basis for that? Comapared to whatever breed the rest of the team are?

The scenes (SPOILER don't read if you don't want to know what hapens in the movie)


... where the dogs bring the birds to Maya and honour her as leader, that is pure Disney, right?

...similarly when Maya can no longer lead, and passes the kill back to Buck ... that BS, isn't it?

Or is it? I know these dogs are bred to be independant thinkers, team players, workers. I know Disney ranked that up 1000% but can anyone with knowledge of these dogs comment on the movie. I'd realy be interested to know how much was BS and how much teamwork and pack behaviour could be expected under this fictisious circumstance.

BTW - all the analysing aside I bawled like a baby at the end.

 

[Lizmo]

That is SUCH a sad Movie I have only wathced it once......

 

[Spiritus]

Yes, that's all Disney, that and the fact that starving dogs won't eat each other... but they couldn't put that in the movie either.

It is a very good story though - loved it.

 

[skyeboxer]

Ha. Yes, I picked up on that one too. But I love the idea of the team work. Would they stay together as a team? Would they fight to the death and eat the weak? Would any survive as part of a pack whether he took one week or six months to come find them?

 

[Whisper]

I think it was based on a true story. I loved the movie- it was so sad- of course I was crying like a baby.

 

[skyeboxer]

Spiritus,

At a local shelter, the girl told me there was a problem one day where no-one could get to the dogs for their normal feeding time. They take in all kinds of dogs and do their best to match two or three in a kennel together but I guess something was badly wrong this time.

When they got there late, two dogs in a kennel had killed the third and had already started to eat it. They were only two hours late and the circumstances were unavoidable. Poor girl was wrecked about it. Shelter life is not ideal but those dogs were not starving and having visited the place, I saw clean runs, fresh water, interested, engaging dogs... I can't imagine what caused that incident.

But there I go hijacking my own thread. Back to Eight Below...

 

[Zoom]

From what I understand, the story has a pretty factual basis. Team of sled dogs was abandoned in Antartica for a time, at some point the people came back and most of the dogs were still alive. Now I'm sure Disney cleaned it up, and instead of passing the kill along to be a metaphor for leadership, the other dogs probably ate it. But for the most part, it's true.

 

[Whisper]

From what I understand, the story has a pretty factual basis. Team of sled dogs was abandoned in Antartica for a time, at some point the people came back and most of the dogs were still alive. Now I'm sure Disney cleaned it up, and instead of passing the kill along to be a metaphor for leadership, the other dogs probably ate it. But for the most part, it's true.

Exactly.

 

[skyeboxer]

Oh wow! I didn't see any 'based on facts' statement within the movie. It does say at the very end something like ? In honour of the dogs and men that yada yada' so I took it to be sort of a fairytale.

I wonder how I could find out about the true story this was based on then?

Any ideas? Also any answer to my first question, if the last two were malamutes, what were the rest of the team?

 

[Whisper]

The team has two malamutes and the rest are sibes.

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

Yes, It was based on a true story. However, I think there were LOTS more dogs involved and like... 2 or 7 (can't remember) survived.

~Tucker

 

[skyeboxer]

Sibes as in Siberian huskys? So is there any truth in the throwaway remark that the Mals were there for brawn and not brains then? Are Sibes more noted for intelligence than malamutes?

I don't know enough about these dogs. My friend has a Malamute, poorly bred I suspect and thick as a brick. But I know she has babied him a lot and can't imagine any of the snow dogs being recognised for lack of smarts.

 

[Saintgirl]

It is based on true events, NOT a true story. The actual story seven out of nine dogs died, and they have NO idea of how the dogs survived. It was Disney who added all of the other nice sharing food stories and peaceful pack heirarchy changes. But beyond all of that, it is a great movie!!

 

[skyeboxer]

Yes, it is a great movie. Sorry if I am analysing it to death. I am just fascinated by the intelligence and independance of these dogs in general. The still scenes at the end are especially beautiful.

 

[zoe08]

The dogs from the actual story were not Sibes or Mals either. The were Sakhalin Huskies. There were 15 dogs left behind and when they came back a year later, 2 dogs still alive, Taro and Jiro. It was a 1958 Japanese research expedition.

 

[skyeboxer]

Hey thanks Zoe,

That's given me something to go on. I found this for starters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankyoku_Monogatari

And here is a stamp featuring the two real survivors, Taro and Jiro: http://ontherockscomics.com/pics/taro-jiro-stamp.png