The Revenant (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 156 minutes
Directed by: Alejandro Iñárritu
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck, Grace Dove, Paul Anderson, Brendan Fletcher, Kristoffer Joner, Melaw Nakehk’o, Duane Howard, Brad Carter, Lukas Haas, Tyson Wood
KRS Releasing Ltd
Based on Michael Punke’s 2002 The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, the film is set in the 1820s and focuses on the real-life exploits of Hugh Glass (Leonardo Di Caprio).
Hugh has lived with the Pawnee Indian tribes and is now working as a scout for fur trappers. His group currently consists of his son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), who is half-white half-Indian, Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), among others.
During their expedition, the band meets Elk Dog (Duane Howard), an Arikara Indian who is looking for his daughter Powaqa (Melaw Nakehk’o) who was captured by French soldiers. Following this meeting, many end up dead and the group’s survivors lose their boat and have to make the rest of their journey on foot.
Along the way, Hugh comes across a mother grizzly bear and he emerges from the encounter severely hurt. The others realise they cannot take him with them. At first they decide to kill him off but Andrew cannot do it. Instead, he leaves John to stay with him and let him die in peace, bury him and then catch up with them later.
This does not happen as John resorts to killing Hugh’s son Hawk and buries Hugh alive. Then he sets off to rejoin Jim and tells him that Hugh died of his injuries.
Hugh, however, manages to survive and slowly gets better and restarts his mission of survival and revenge. Help is found in Hikuc (Arthur Redcloud), a solitary Indian.
The Revenant is an impressive film in its acting, direction and, most of all, in the experience it puts its audience through. Alejandro Iñárritu has always been a great director with his movies Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel being my favourites from his oeuvre. With The Revenant he has made a grinding machine of a movie.
He and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have delivered a very cinematic and entertaining experience. It is a film that has a strong visceral beauty to it and the audience may feel the coldness of the rugged environment as it accompanies DiCaprio on his travails.
The actor seems constantly at the edge of a precipice. He is immersed into his role, is completely convincing and it is this sort of commitment that Academy Award voters love. The star actor sheds any celebrity glimmer and really fills his boots with humility.
On the other hand, he is well-balanced by Hardy who delivers another great performance as DiCaprio’s rival.
The Revenant is a film that does not have time for sentimentality. Its environment, its desperation and the ordeals do not let the audience have any chance to fall back on any heart-warming moment. It’s a movie that feeds on its suffering and drama and will leave many an episode firmly entrenched in one’s mind.