Movie Review: "The Revenant"

The Revenant (2015)

R

4.5 Stars out of 5

Director                                Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu

Writer                                   Mark Smith, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (s'play); Michael Punke (book)
Cinematography                 Emmanuel Lubezki
Music                                    Carsten Nicolai, Ryuichi Sakamoto

Leonardo DiCaprio             Hugh Glass
Tom Hardy                          John Fitzgerald
Domhnall Gleeson             Captain Andrew Henry
Will Poulter                         Jim Bridger
Forrest Goodluck               Hawk
Arthur Redcloud                Hikuc

 

A person could watch Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” just to enjoy his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki’s vision of the Rocky Mountains in winter. Lubezki’s eye and hand produce such a work of cinematic art it is simply awe-inspiring. Alternatively, one could watch this film for the writers’ visions (Iñárritu and Mark Smith): a man’s war of survival against the elements and that man’s single-minded purpose in staying alive long enough to wreck his vengeance on his enemy. Yet another viewer might want to seize the opportunity to watch an outstanding actor, Leonardo DiCaprio at the top of his game; watch him portray the man just alluded to in the writers’ visions as he struggles to stay alive; or as this character states, “as long as you can grab a breath, you fight”. All of these are compelling reasons to watch this movie. Taken together, these different means of appreciating “The Revenant” combine in my mind to produce a convincing example of why anyone would be driven to consider Iñárritu as one of the best directors at work today.

It is my opinion that Iñárritu has produced a movie that has deep parallels with Alfonso Cuarón’s 2013 movie, “Gravity”. Both use Lubezki as their cinematographer, and the two movies are mesmerizing in similar ways: “Gravity” opens with Sandra Bulloch flying through space in a dizzying spin following a collision with space debris, while “The Revenant starts with an attack of Ariakara warriors on a group of white trappers. Both movies employ state of the art camera work that takes the audience straight into the middle of the action. However as good and as similar as the cinematography is in both films, it is the screenplays that make me think of the parallels more than anything else. While both films require expert physical acting by the two leading stars, it is the trip to “salvation” that both take that is the most definitive of their resemblance. Bulloch’s character will race from one life-threatening situation to another, while DiCaprio’s will do exactly the same. One might be in space, the other in the mountains, but there is a strong likeness of dramatic tension and relief; each movie will do it yet one more time, again and again. One big difference is their final destination: Bulloch’s character is “saved”, not necessarily so with DiCaprio’s.

Just as the title suggests, “The Revenant” tells the story of one who returns from the dead: in this case, the story of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) in 1823 North America after a bear attack. Glass had travelled up the Missouri River under the command of Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) with a group of roughly 50 men. They were there to trap beaver and to return the pelts for their payoff. As they broke camp, all the while packing their beaver pelts, they are beset by a tribe of the Ariakara. Most of the white men were killed; those few that survived included Henry, Glass, his half-Pawnee son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), and about 10 others. Amongst the other survivors was young Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) and a particularly evil-tempered John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy).

The group flees the Ariakara on their boat but only for a short distance down the river. Glass quickly advised that they must abandon the boat for a hike across the mountains to their ultimate refuge, Fort Kiowa. It is on this journey that Glass while out hunting will find himself between two grizzly cubs and their mother. The ensuing scene as the mother bear seeks to "protect" her cubs is one of the most riveting and technically perfect scenes of special effects I have ever seen. It may haunt your dreams for some time to come. Glass will survive but only just. Unable to carry him to Fort Kiowa, Captain Henry offers to pay any volunteer willing to stay with Glass $300. Fitzgerald, Hawk and Bridger agree to stand watch over Glass and then to bury him when he dies. Fitzgerald’s betrayal of this duty as well as his duty to Hawk and Bridger will bring on the story’s major arc.

 

After leaving Glass for dead, Fitzgerald makes his way back to Fort Kiowa with a tall tale quite at odds with reality. Meanwhile, Glass has recovered enough to begin an arduous journey back from where he was left; his personal journey back from the dead. His desire to return is fueled with passion; he wants justice against Fitzgerald for his crimes against Glass and the others, and he will overcome every obstacle nature or man may put in front of him. Nothing is going to stop Glass; like the unchanging mountains that surround him, his will is equally fixed, absolutely adamantine in its lack of changeability.

Glass will first crawl as his body is too broken to support its own weight. He will gain some strength, painfully gain his feet, and begin to walk in time.  After several days of this near death hike, he will meet a sympathetic Pawnee who will provide some much needed outside, though still largely indifferent help. It is at this point that the movie stumbles a bit. Up to the point where Hikuc (Arthur Redcloud), the helpful Pawnee comes onto the scene, it is Glass alone against the world; now he has help. This deviation of one man alone against nature is not my primary complaint. Instead, it is the introduction of fantasy story elements that show up at this point in the story. They are dressed up as fever-induced delusions, and perhaps they could have happened; but they are a big change in the story’s tone and story-telling method.

In the first reel, “The Revenant” is a film based in reality; a hard reality of life on the frontier battling the elements, Native-Americans and the wildlife. In these early parts of the movie, Iñárritu spins his story in a manner where all three, the elements, Native-Americans and wildlife all seem more like forces of nature. There is no particular animus in any of them towards Glass or his companions. It simply snows in winter, a mother bear protects her cubs, or a group of Indians attack white men. There seems to be little or no personal passion in these acts; they simply are. The bear and the Indians might be thought to be driven by passions, and yet in the early parts of this movie they really do not seem to have such. The Indian attacks with his bow and arrow, the white man falls, and the Indian moves to the next victim. No emotion, it’s just a simple act, like falling from a cliff. Gravity and the cliff mean you no particular ill will; you die nevertheless.

The stumble in the movie occurs as Glass’ reserves, as vast as they must be, start to wane. He hallucinates about his dead loved ones: one will hug him, another hover above him in the air. These scenes are emotional and they carry impact for Glass and the viewer: one scene in an abandoned church is especially heart-rending. As good as these scenes might be in a different movie, they feel very much out of place in a movie as grounded in hard reality as most of “The Revenant” is. If Iñárritu truly wanted to create a cinematic vision of the unfeeling nature of death when it comes in whatever form it might come in, it is a mistake to switch from such a hard vision of life to one based on a hallucinatory view of life.

Iñárritu will turn back to reality in the final reel of “The Revenant” as Glass seeks his long delayed justice for the wrongs committed by Fitzgerald. The movie will end with a close up on DiCaprio’s face that will, like the bear attack live in my mind for a considerable length of time. The look on DiCaprio’s face says so much about what he has gone through and hints at what may become of him. By this point in his character’s life, he has gained some measure of vengeance but has lost virtually everything else. In this cinematic world, one must wonder “what does Glass have left to live for”? And if that is true for Glass, one could surely imagine, this is one of Iñárritu’s core themes in “The Revenant”: finding the will to put one foot in front of the other, or to quote Glass once again: “You breathe…keep breathing”. This is what I believe is Iñárritu’s actual desire for this movie’s effect on his audience.

DiCaprio’s acting is absolutely the best of the year: his 2016 Oscar for Best Actor was not a “gimme” for his years of unrewarded excellence; years that largely began in 2004 with the “The Aviator”, 2006 with “Blood Diamond” and “The Departed”, and continues up through this movie with too many more to list. He earned the award long before “The Revenant” and could have been given it for either of the 2006 films. That being said, he more than earned it with his bravura performance in “The Revenant”. And I must say, as much as I regard DiCaprio’s acting, I have on multiple occasions derided Tom Hardy’s; not this time. Hardy’s performance as the evil Fitzgerald is quite noteworthy and is part of why this movie is as good as it is.

Great acting, great cinematography, an excellent score and a brilliant script that works with concepts as deep as “the will to live when all feels lost” make this movie one for the ages. It is a violent movie at times, there is no way to soft peddle that concept. However, “The Revenant” like a few other works of art that use violence (e.g. Cormac McCarthy’s novel, “Blood Meridian”), makes violence a powerful story tool, almost a movie character; an essential character to properly tell this story of survival, of love, of vengeance. This story is worth knowing and Iñárritu’s vision of the story is one worth experiencing. Even if you abhor movies with violence, consider seeing this film. It is a movie that brings so much to the screen, it simply must be seen.