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What Wilderness Permits is used with permission from Joel Marsh. Learn more at http://omele.to/3MTdZon.
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Russ McCoy is a park ranger who is passionately dedicated to his job. He loves the peace and serenity of nature; he is deeply familiar with all the creatures he encounters on his regular rounds, including a bear who has eaten a human.
But before he can do anything about the human-eating bear, Russ is unceremoniously fired from his job, due to the lack of funding for the national parks and the apathy and cluelessness of the park visitors. Distraught and devastated, Russ takes his ire out on a city-slicker couple, Emma and Paul, who are visiting the park for some hiking and camping, and represents all that has gone wrong with society.
Directed by Joel Marsh from a script written by Mike Leavitt, this acerbic dark comedy short is ostensibly one man’s revenge upon a world that refuses to respect the only thing he is passionate about. Russ is dedicated to his job, fueled by a deep love of nature and all its wild creatures, and the storytelling finds a witty, even sweet humor on just how immersed he is in his work.
But that fervor has a dark side when it’s thwarted by forces out of Russ’s control. Money is an issue, but it’s also people’s growing carelessness about the environment — where they think of nature only for its Instagram potential, not as something to care for and nurture. The film has some fun with the casually oblivious cluelessness of the couple and charts Russ’s growing descent into madness, but it never quite edges into the bite of satire. Instead, the writing and direction manage a fine tonal balance between a creeping sense of horror as Russ loses it, a sincere social commentary on nature and knowing humor at the foibles of humans, with their idiosyncrasies and self-absorption. The film’s visuals, too, capture the bucolic beauty of nature, which makes for a striking contrast to the nutty humans roaming within it.
As excellent as the writing and creative direction is, it’s the performances that truly make the film’s balance of theme and tone work. Actors Claire Glassford and Brendan Sargent play the couple whose cluelessness emerges not from any personal malevolence or lack of intelligence, but from their distraction. But the foundation of the film is actor Galen Howard, who plays Russ with terrific distinction and presence. Russ is an eccentric and outsider, and while Howard revels in Russ’s quirky flourishes and the peculiarities of his demeanor, he always maintains a line to Russ’s emotional truth. Russ genuinely loves nature for its beauty and majesty, but also because he can be himself in it, away from the judgments of people like Paul and Emma. When that refuge is taken from him, Russ goes into his own heart of darkness, even as Paul and Emma begin to expand their appreciation of nature.
Those dueling arcs in “What Wilderness Permits” converge in ways both unpredictable and sincere as the film proceeds, and gives it an unusual and well-earned emotional resonance, as both the couple and Russ find common ground and compassion. But, because it’s also a witty dark comedy, there’s also a hilarious irony at its conclusion, where the power of nature truly asserts itself. Nature, it seems, will be just fine, no matter the nature of the humans trampling and traipsing within it.
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A park ranger is fired from his dream job. Then he loses his mind… | What Wilderness Permits
http://youtu.be/RgygaGH8SX8
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Brilliant little video, kept the interest right the way thru
It's like a cross ❌ between Disney meets Alfred Hitchcock 🗝️
Superb plot and twist. I loved it!!!
I suspect him the ending had happened to other campers bevor from the finger he found in the dung. 🫢🫣
Is it a wonderful how the amazing young couple was frolicking in nature and skipping to My Lou…
I liked it.
"You mean Ross right?"
Russ "Grumbling.. It's Russ you piece of …"
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hilarious Short.
"A Man gots to know his limitations." Dirty Harry
Just before the carnage; "But Yogi, we eat peoples picnic food and Ranger Smith will be real mad at us"! "Don't worry Booboo! You gotta spice things up once in awhile. Girl for you and the big one for me".
I'll guarantee you whomever wrote this actually worked in a National Park. And if you have you probably wanted these two people to die as well.
Galen Howard did an Awesome job in this, He went from Comedian to Psychopath killer, to caring friend.
Poor dude!😔but sure a damn good short film!😄❤️👏
Eating while watching this.
Part 2?
"Cushy job with Patagonia…" Funny 😁
Very entertaining!
Way to go Ross….I mean Russ!
🤣👍🏻👍🏻
I want to camp in that park , I will follow all the rules , loved the park, story, actors , everything.
now my favorite
👏🏼😊
Moral of the story camp in your prias lol
Great story. Loved this. I think there is a little bit of Ross in all of us. err, I meant Russ.
It probably sucks to be eaten by a bear.
Great movie! Remember Deliverance from the 1970's? Only this one made some good points about caring for nature.
Great film 📼. Ending was good.
Wickedly funny
Great superb excellent film. Loved it!
"Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them." -Anonymous
Tbh, I wonder what happened to the ranger but first I feel bad for him by losing his job 🙁 (really) I I also wanna know if the ranger was bitten to death or not cause if he is, welllll let's say they all died and I don't know what he was thinking
maybe he regretted his desicion on killing the people by accident. But he was going to K I L L them by placing a poop in there
I hope you guys have a nice day and I hope you'll have a nice day too Omoleto!
And he decided to be a caring friend 🙂
This movie needs the song,
"Teddy Bears Picnic" by Henry Hall
playing in the background…
"If you go out into the woods today you're in for a big surprise,
if you go out in the woods today you better go in disguise, for every teddy bear that ever there was is gathered there for certain because, today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic. …"
A wonderful Monty Python punch line!!