The Revenant (2016) Movie Review

The Timeless Trials of Cold Beauty

          Loglines and taglines alike suggest a simple revenge plot. Nothing more. After a recent onslaught of films and television shows trying admirably hard to instil within their stories as much unpredictability as possible without looking desperate, most notably through the notion that no one is safe from an untimely death, veteran silver screen viewers need not travel with a protagonist for hundreds of snow-drenched, predator-filled miles before they can predict the final outcome of his quest. Still, no film this side of the new year surprises viewers more expertly with the age-old reality in storytelling: It is not just about what to say, but also how to say it that counts. The latter quality spoils audiences within minutes by rewarding their faith with eye-numbing shots dripping with alluring connotations of various themes of great modern-era relevance. Each marker of thought lingers with no more or less significant than the next, forming a trail of uncomfortably familiar talking points that are consistently deep throughout the brutally freezing and often fiendishly lonely quest of The Revenant.
       
          There is almost no doubt whatsoever, among loyal fans especially, concerning DiCaprio finally winning the Academy Award for the best leading actor of the year. Moreover, no mist or fog, both natural and man-made, obscures the fact that DiCaprio puts his heart and so much more into the role of Hugh Glass. He is able to employ an accent of Southern dialect with which he has total control, speak First Nation languages with evidently well-rehearsed fluency and move violently to the tune of his own screams in a manner that proves crucial for making an encounter with a CGI-fuelled grizzly bear move from a farcical plot necessity into the realms of the most fascinating scenes in movie history. The acting prowess remains outstanding to the end, even in unbearably cold temperatures. He remains captivating over mountains, under water and everywhere in between, leading a cast all eager to also bring their finest dramatic qualities into the frame. Albeit the awards season has been tainted by the #OscarsSoWhite dilemma, rewarding DiCaprio with long overdue recognition for his abilities as an artist will be an result over which few will dare dispute.      

          The Revenant was shot entirely at the mercy of natural light. The phenomenon appears to be no more than a practical short-cut and an industry gimmick akin to 3D in film-making when discussed in interviews. Not a single image throughout the film, however, could have gone without it. Fire, the sun and the moon were just some of the light sources that the crew waited hours for on multiple occasions just to capture at the best, most fruitful moments for the film. That very light became the key to bringing both the Canadian and the Argentinian scenery, which together adopted the role of the early nineteenth century American wilderness, to exquisite, awe-inspiring life. With good reason there are times when even those who enjoy the more artistic style of film-making will lose focus, until they are immersed again into the painting by another breath-taking landscape shot that until its viewing there and then never seemed possible. Nature appears so gorgeous and so stunning that one feels compelled to go to Canada, even if only to celebrate Nature's unrivalled aesthetic prowess with relish for a moment. Fortunately, a moment is all one needs, for the action in The Revenant blasts into audiences sensibilities surrounding a particular fragment of famous Canadian poetry.

"this is a country

 where a man can die

 simply from being

 caught outside." 

- Alden Nowlan, "Canadian January Night"  

          Refusing to accept that the beauty of the unexplored natural world or the exceptionally focused acting would be enough to compensate for a straightforward sequence of story events, the film-makers successfully injected a striking amount of unpredictability and tension into the plot, even in scenes for which the conclusion could not be clearer. Furthermore, throughout Hugh Glass's journey, the film touches upon the First Nations, Nature as an entity that is very much alive and in constant motion, as well as a handful of different human relationships. The Revenant depicts the pursuit of survival at all costs, presenting different forces repeatedly coming into undesired contact with one another but ultimately placing humanity at the centre. Men embrace conflict with one another without remorse. The battles grow only more ruthless as they discover and surrender to poisons of the mind, such as greed, rage and ignorance. On each occasion, humanity is presented as capable of making a choice. While perhaps less well-understood in centuries gone by, that choice to act selfishly, or at least mildly selflessly, in order to stay alive and enjoy a comfortable living, remains as prevalent on this day in the twenty-first century as it did in the American wilderness of the eighteen twenties. For that reason alone, The Revenant will remain frozen in memory as a major movie talking point long after the glamorous excitement of this year's Oscar season melts away. 

THE VERDICT: 9/10