Monday, January 18, 2016

2015 Movie Picks: The Revenant

The Revenant, an Alejandro Iñarritu film with Leonardo diCaprio and Tom Hardy in lead roles, is an unquestionable saga of the season. The survival story tracks the treacherous journey of a fur trader in the early 1800s named Hugh Glass (diCaprio), who joins an expedition in the American plains as a scout. He's accompanied by his teen son, Hawk, half Pawnee, whose mother died at the hands of white men when Hawk was very young.

See the trailer: The Revenant



True to the harsh realities of the day, Glass and Hawk have to run for their lives when an Indian tribe attacks the traders' camp in a brutal, arrow-piercing, gun-slinging spree that leaves a trail of dead bodies on both sides. The survivors jump on their boat with only the furs they can carry on their backs. They escape the invaders, but troubles travel in tow, to render a film that won't let go. 

First, Glass is mauled by a giant grizzly bear. The tortured fight, raw and cumbersome with the bear having the upper hand, sends chills down the spine and leaves the victim gushing blood from arteries cut loose in his neck and body. In a turnabout, the son is now the caretaker of the father, after he's sewn and patched to stop the loss of blood and flesh. Carrying Glass up and over mountain ranges on a makeshift gurney proves too demanding for the men, who are battling the elements when they decide to leave him behind and press onward to the fort, their destination as snow falls and weather sets in. 

The threat of more attacks hovers like dark clouds overhead. Rendered speechless and paralyzed by his injuries, Glass is at the mercy of his son, another young man who stays behind to help, and a hardcore, crusty trader (Hardy) who volunteers to keep them company for extra pay, until Glass passes on. The challenges ahead are relentless in scope and nature -- man against man, evil, the elements, and his own limited ability to fight back. Everything that can go wrong does, in grand splendor, to shock the senses in sweeping landscape scenes of mountains, plains, earth, sky, and clouds. The flicker of fire at night, a round of sky framed by tree canopies, a raging river with cascading falls, and an unexpected buffalo stampede are but a few of the cinematic moments to dominate muted but magical photography. From start to finish, shades of gray set the mood for pending gloom. But Glass does not give up, reminding us of the nature of the human spirit that settled this country. His fight becomes our fight, and his setbacks are ours, until they no longer are. 

DiCaprio's performance takes nothing less than gutsy forbearance, strength, and stamina. The extreme conditions surely tested the entire cast and crew. Some have called the film pretentious and overdone. Others say it employs superfluous spiritual elements, which seem fitting to me -- the revenant refers to a person who returns from the dead, according to my online dictionary. I'm a fan of magical realism in literature and film, and feel those scenes work well for mood and back story,  providing the inner motivation for Glass' heroic resolve at every turn. I went along for the ride, even if I had to look away. 

The rush of accolades, awards, and nominations for The Revenant speak for themselves. 

    


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