MovieChat Forums > The Hunter (2011) Discussion > Directly drinking the stream water.

Directly drinking the stream water.

posted 10 years ago by lav208001
25 replies | jump to latest

I finished watching the movie yesterday night. While I enjoyed the movie, and at felt it was really well acted by Defoe and the kids. I do think the plot could have been better.
My favorite scenes were the hunter in the wild. However as a hiker, one thing that I really didn't like was showing him directly drink water from the stream. Having hiked in a few places across the world(, but not Australia/Tasmania yet), I am aware of the bacteria's present in the stream waters, and have always been told to use a filter or a pill if drinking stream water. I could have forgiven the first time they showed him filling stream water, since he could have used the pill without showing us. However the 2nd time he drinks directly. So is the Tasmanian water so clean you don't need to filter? Or they didn't realize that a true hunter would know that stream water needs filtering.

[–] bear022013-909-645034 10 years ago

Perhaps the character took precautions taken off camera.

[–] tjw730 10 years ago

I have done quite a lot of hiking in Tasmania and most of the water is perfectly fine to drink without treatment.

[–] m_noble 9 years ago

Me too - no problems. As others have pointed out, drink moving water.

[–] seh-7 8 years ago

Same. That far out in the wilderness, it's some of the freshest water in the world. Far from any humans or pollution.

[–] Writ_in_Water 10 years ago

If I remember my Boy Scout training, running water (such as a rapid stream) is safe to drink, so long as there are no factories or dump sites upstream. The aeration kills the bacteria. What you want to avoid is still water.

[–] jovica-1 9 years ago

Factories? What about dead animals (upstream), animal feces and etc. Always boil water, if dirty, filter first.

[–] cached41 9 years ago

Tasmania has the purest water in the world. Probably safer than your tap water!

[–] MrBlondee 9 years ago

I drank lots of stream water unfiltered in Tasmania and Australian mountains, never been sick from it. Make sure its moving water.

[–] stopedancer 9 years ago

High country water in Tassie is pretty safe direct off the stream, if you're willing to risk the (slight) chance of Giardia. Can vouch, used to live there, hiked a lot.

[–] steve-ess27 9 years ago

Perhaps not all of the world is as polluted as where you live? Tassie high country river water is perfectly safe to drink, flowing is best. The biggest threat is minerals in the water, which purification pills do not nullify, but aren't present in Tassie water anyway. Do some homework before making such ill-informed comments in future would be a good idea.

[–] SuperWittySmitty 8 years ago

Unless there is something in the water just upstream. Could be the rotting carcass of a dead animal that either drowned or expired near the water or a herd of animals crossing the water, expelling their waste midstream. Don't be foolish and drink bacteria that can make you really sick when you are in the wilderness.

[–] steve-ess27 8 years ago

And what animal may there be herds of in Tasmania? Please enlighten me.

[–] SuperWittySmitty 8 years ago

Could be a dead platypus, a wombat, someone's runaway dog, a possum, a bandicoot, a dead snake, even a 'roo. Maybe even a dead person who slipped, fell, and drowned upstream, just behind that big rock.

Continue to think so narrow-mindedly, drink water freely because it's "running" and get sick, for all I care. It's happened to thousands of people already. Just don't expect a "Get Well," when you're in the hospital with dysentery.

[–] steve-ess27 8 years ago

And they're all examples of herds are they? I didn't say water is safe because it's running, though others may have. So what are these herds you speak of?

[–] SuperWittySmitty 8 years ago

I live in a big city and use "herds" as a euphemism for any situation involving more than two animals, like a group of possums or a bunch of boars or even a gaggle of kookaburras. A pack of kangaroos or a group of marsupials, at least to me, is a herd.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Stay in your big city and keep quiet about country life. Maybe you've learned in 4 years.

[–] EddieAdamsFromTorrance 8 years ago

What a pretentious, self-righteous, ill-informed blowhard, you are.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

You do realize that long long ago people drank water from streams all the time. If you needed to purify water to avoid getting sick humanity would never had made it this far because the little pills for the water are a fairly recent invention.

[–] moviechatterer (15777) 4 years ago

Do you think the other animals pop a pill before they drink just to be safe?

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Lots of water in other countries is also safe to drink from a stream so long as it is running water. I've had water out of a stream in various parts of the US and never gotten sick. In the US you just have to be aware of any factories or farming/ranching that can lead to nasty water that will go well beyond bacteria into chemicals.

And if you go hiking in places where you know you'll have to drink water that is suspect you can also just dose up on antibiotics. The one time I made the mistake of drinking water in a country where tap water wasn't safe, the first time the cramps in my stomach started I started taking antibiotics and the diarrhea didn't last long at all. Another guy in the group that made the same mistake didn't think using antibiotics was safe so he waited till he could get a doctor, but by then he was so dehydrated he had to get iv fluids and then the doctor doses him up on antibiotics. In the future when I go to shit holes I just start taking antibiotics when I leave and keep on them a few days after I return or civilization. Not had any problems since using that method.

[–] vaughnjw73 9 years ago

High elevations......running water.....cold water. About as clean as you are going to get. And a place like Tasmania. Pretty clean.

[–] maitch-1 9 years ago

I've seen some weird, unwarranted, pointless non sequiturs on the net before, but the original post here just about takes the cake....or in this case water.

Please note : Apart from clear running streams in Tasmanian wilderness being fine to drink from the main point is THIS IS A MOVIE NOT A DOCUMENTARY!!!

Next lav208001 will be questioning the exact colour of uniforms in war movies.

"Take away the pain, but leave the swelling."