 Tagline: Inspired by true events - Blood lost. Life found. Leonardo DiCaprio gives an Oscar Winning performance in Oscar Winner Alejandro G. Inarritu's cinematic masterpiece. Inspired by true events and the winner of 3 Oscars, The Revenant follows the story of legendary explorer Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) on his quest for survival and justice. After a brutal bear attack, Glass is left for dead by a treacherous member of his hunting team (Tom Hardy). Against extraordinary odds, and enduring unimaginable grief, Glass battles a relentless winter in uncharted terrain. This "boldly original" (Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch) epic adventure captures the extraordinary power of the human spirit in an immersive and visceral experience "unlike anything you have ever seen" (Jake Hamilton, FOX-TV). Storyline: While exploring the uncharted wilderness in 1823, legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass sustains injuries from a brutal bear attack. When his hunting team leaves him for dead, Glass must utilize his survival skills to find a way back home while avoiding natives on their own hunt. Grief-stricken and fueled by vengeance, Glass treks through the wintry terrain to track down John Fitzgerald, the former confidant who betrayed and abandoned him. Written by Jwelch5742 Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, April 16, 2016 Though even some diehard film fans seem to have forgotten about it, the harrowing tale of Hugh Glass' survival in the hinterlands of the 1820s was told decades before The Revenant, in the frequently visceral 1971 film Man in the Wilderness. Neither Man in the Wilderness nor The Revenant shirk from the horrors Glass supposedly faced in his exile in forbidding conditions, but the irony about both of these cinematic depictions is that Glass may not in fact have experienced them, at least to the degree that has entered into legend. While Man in the Wilderness out and out fictionalized certain elements in the tale, including the name of the hero (transformed to Zachary Bass), The Revenant had an ostensibly more factual basis, Michael Punke's historical novel of the same name which appeared in 2002. But some historians have questioned what exactly Glass went through after joining a fur trading expedition. While Glass himself evidently never memorialized his adventures (whatever they might have been), as early as 1824 some literary "adaptations" started appearing detailing Glass' incredible fortitude in coming out alive after having been abandoned by his supposed team. Whatever the "truth" may be, there's little doubt that The Revenant offers one of the most excruciating cinematic portrayals of a man (more or less) alone, battling the elements and utilizing whatever wits he's able to muster to overcome almost unbelievable odds. The rhythms of nature infuse The Revenant before the first imagery ever even hits the screen, with some evocative sound design that seems to suggest either breezes wafting through trees or perhaps the spectral whispers of the dearly departed. The Revenant's distressing tale plays out against some of the most awe inspiring scenery ever caught on film (and for you sticklers, yes, The Revenant was digitally captured, this is a figure of speech), though it's obvious that director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki want to emphasize both the imposing majesty of the American West as well as its inherent danger. Man is shown to be both a part of and apart from Nature, something that again informs the unfolding saga of Glass once he's abandoned and left for dead after what has become one of the film's infamous set pieces, an attack by a Mama Grizzly (so to speak) that leaves Glass hideously wounded. Before that horrifying sequence unfolds, The Revenant quickly establishes some roiling and fairly dysfunctional interrelationships between a gaggle of men who have been on a pelt collecting mission. Glass has broken away from the group to hunt with his half-Pawnee son Hawk (a superb Forrest Goodluck). (The whole backstory giving Hawk a murdered Pawnee wife and "half breed" son is the source of some contention among historians who have looked into the actual record of Glass' life.) The main group is suddenly set upon by marauding Arikari, who kill several of the men before Glass and Hawk are able to get back and help shore up defenses. The upshot is that Glass, who is revealed to be the group's guide, insists that the survivors get on their boat and hightail it out of there, something that does not sit well with Glass' chief nemesis, a 19th century example of what almost might be termed a "white trash" mercenary named Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Quickly elided in this sequence is the fact that the Arikari chief (Anthony Starlight) is on the hunt for his abducted daughter, in what almost plays like the reverse of The Searchers. After the attack, the survivors are holed up on a boat, though Glass again advises the expedition leader Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) that their best course of action is to ditch the transport and head off on foot, something that further enrages Fitzgerald since the few pelts they've been able to salvage from the attack will need to be left somewhere questionably safe so that the hike can proceed more efficiently. Some simmering tensions between Fitzgerald and Hawk also unfold at this point, something that informs one of the more disturbing developments as the story progresses. Without giving too much away for those who have yet to see The Revenant, suffice it to say that the bear attack changes everything, with Henry coming to the conclusion that the group can't continue hauling an apparently mortally wounded Glass along with them. He enlists Fitzgerald and a young Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) to stay behind with Glass until he dies and then give him a proper burial before rejoining the main aggregation. It's not much of a spoiler to state that things don't exactly play out as planned, leading to the bulk of the rest of the film where Glass, motivated by an almost feral sense of vengeance, overcomes seemingly unbelievable odds to track down Fitzgerald and bring him to justice. The Revenant is a surprisingly languid film, especially given some of its hyperbolic set pieces. But that very ambience is what gives the film some of its undeniable stateliness. It's certainly arguable that some of the sprawling narrative could have been efficiently trimmed to no real detriment of the film, especially in the last half hour or so, but the slow, steady unfolding of Glass' struggle to survive seems to reflect the timelessness of the environment in which it takes place. Another rather interesting element to The Revenant is its depiction of both Caucasians and Native Americans. If one tracks the general history of the western film in American cinematic history, it's not too much of a stretch to state that probably through the forties (at least) a "Cowboys vs. Indians" ethos tended to predominate, with the "Indians" regularly being the villains of the piece. A reassessment of sorts started occurring in later decades where the interloping (largely) white pioneers are portrayed as more scheming and duplicitous, and the Native Americans assume a decidedly more noble status. The Revenant tends to suggest that there is good and evil in any given demographic. Therefore, the film has both saintly and sinning individuals in all groups. There are heroic Caucasians and Native Americans, and characters in both collectives who almost invite hissing and booing due to their despicable actions. That said, it's not hard to see that the film's sympathies lie largely with the Native American population who even at this relatively early point are seeing their lands and livelihoods being "stolen" (as the Arikari chief puts it) from them, and whose violent tendencies are therefore probably better understood than those of the "intruders". It probably goes without saying that The Revenant is often quite difficult to sit through, something that has nothing to do with its perhaps overstuffed length. The film deliberately exploits the series of misfortunes which Glass is forced to suffer, in an onslaught of fate that would almost be funny if it weren't so incredibly appalling. For those who can stomach the virtually nonstop accrual of blood and guts, The Revenant still provides a visceral viewing experience that is quite unlike anything I've personally seen in quite some time. Frontier justice has rarely been so powerfully portrayed, and DiCaprio and Hardy bring incredible commitment to two emotionally (and in the case of DiCaprio, physically) demanding roles. Also at the top of their games are Iñárritu and Lubezki, both of whom (along with DiCaprio, of course) won well deserved Academy Awards. Iñárritu's by now well documented proclivities toward magical realism (as evidenced by both Biutiful and Birdman) are perhaps more organically woven into The Revenant's otherwise grimly gritty tale of desperation than in those previous films, offering glimpses of improbable hope in even the most hopeless circumstances. The Revenant may seem on its face to be a 19th century Death Wish, but the emotional depth of this piece, along with its truly astonishing cinematography, make this one of the most unique viewing experiences in recent memory. There's arguable over-length here, but that's probably the only quibble most folks will have with what is one of the most incredibly visceral presentations of man vs. nature (and man) the world of cinema has ever seen. Technical merits are virtually flawless, and The Revenant comes Highly recommended. Trivia:
[CSW] -4.7- The Revenant falls into the same category as Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream and Spielberg's Schindler's List for me, in the essence of being a terrific movie but not something I readily want to sit through a second time (although I'm sure that I will). In all these movies there are brutal sequences that cause emotional stress and disgust just watching because it is so REAL and GRIPPING. To think that events in these movies actually happened or that they could very well happen is too much to think about. Not to say that I did not enjoy this film thoroughly. It is a technical masterpiece that left me wondering "How the hell did they do that?" after many scenes and sequences. With beautiful cinematography and adroit camera movement this film is a visual magnum opus. There are parts where the film did seem to drag on a bit but there was usually a point to it. The actors did a superb job executing their rolls. Many are raving about DiCaprio's performance but I was extremely impressed with Hardy's brutal and gritty character Fitzgerald. Hardy was simply amazing. He became the fairly intelligent, bigoted, liar, thief, and killer Fitzgerald. Cast Notes: Leonardo DiCaprio (Hugh Glass), Tom Hardy (John Fitzgerald), Domhnall Gleeson (Captain Andrew Henry), Will Poulter (Bridger), Forrest Goodluck (Hawk), Paul Anderson (Anderson), Kristoffer Joner (Murphy), Joshua Burge (Stubby Bill), Duane Howard (Elk Dog), Melaw Nakehk'o (Powaqa), Fabrice Adde (Toussaint), Arthur RedCloud (Hikuc), Christopher Rosamond (Boone), Robert Moloney (Dave Stomach Wound), Lukas Haas (Jones). IMDb Rating (03/10/17): 8.0/10 from 484,834 users
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