The Revenant — Blue Fairy Film Blog

Like Inarritu’s masterpiece “Birdman,” there is a subtle beauty, visual magnificence, and breathtaking clarity to “The Revenant.” Every moment of screen time is so daringly beautiful, and yet otherworldly in its grittiness and guile. The world Inarritu creates with his panoramic shots, use of extreme silences, and mounting tension, does not feel like our own. It’s alien to the extreme, and perhaps that’s because of the flashbacks, or the whispers that follow main character Hugh Glass into the wilderness, but it’s mostly because Inarritu works best when he is showing us the world as it really is, or in this case was.

If there’s anything you watch for the awards season let it be this film. I am completely assured in my opinion that this film will win the bulk of the awards, and if Leo doesn’t finally get his Oscar gold I will be beyond shocked. Though visually this film nearly wins out among all the other contenders, it’s DiCaprio’s virile performance as Hugh Glass that is truly beyond awe inspiring. Mostly silent throughout the film, DiCaprio makes use of his time onscreen through extreme use of body language.

Amazingly this is a true story about a man who was attacked by a bear, left for dead in an unmarked grave, and then belly crawled, and limped his way back to the man who did him in. Watching the film it becomes clear how obsessed Glass was with revenge, but also his own survival. Some of the scenes in this film are so gut wrenchingly animalistic that they can only be explained by a need to exist, a powerful need that man will satiate in any way possible. Glass does everything to survive; from biting the head off a fish, to carving out the insides of his horse to stay warm in the harsh winter. His body is so broken and fostering rottenness that he barely gets by, except through sheer luck and tenacity.

This film is not for the faint of heart. The scene where the bear attacks Glass feels so powerfully awesome in scope that it’s hard to watch except through the slits of your own hands. It’s also not the only harsh scene. There are attacks on animals, scalpings, and limbs being torn off, or hacked off by an axe. Overall it’s a gruesome and realistic portrayal of the limits of the human spirit and the need for retribution. Winter itself proves to be an alienating and vindictive foe to Glass, as he must heal his tortured and torn body from the wind and wild. How he didn’t lose most of his fingers and toes to frostbite I will never know, as most of his shelters involve his own coat, and a small rickety fire made of twigs and dry grass.

Every performance is astounding. Gleeson, a forthcoming star in his own right, plays a captain of the fur trading company charged with Glass’ safety. His bravado is never lacking, and his character is balanced between the good he wants to inhabit, and being realistic in these harsh conditions. Hardy rightly deserves his nomination just for the accent work, and his craggy demeanor as Fitzgerald, the man who betrays Glass and leaves him for dead. There are also some great side characters played by Native Americans, displaying their pride, but also their spiritual awareness and hatred for the men who stole their land. One chieftain hunts down a stolen daughter through tracking Glass’ movements. Overall, there is a beauty and fierce ugliness intermingled in this film, rightly deserving of the 12 nominations it garnered.