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The Revenant, 2015
In the 1820s, tracker Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), accompanied by his teenage son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), guides a troop of fur trappers through dangerous territory. When most of the trappers are killed in an ambush by a group of Arikara people who are seeking a kidnapped Arikara woman, the survivors retreat into the snowy mountains. While scouting for food, Hugh is savagely mauled by a bear. Unwilling to put Hugh out of his misery, the leader (Domnhall Gleeson) leaves Hawk, a man named Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), and a young man named Jim (Will Poulter) to stay with Hugh through his last hours of life. But Fitzgerald has other ideas, and his actions set off a tragic series of events.
I am still turning over in my mind how successful I think this film was in terms of seeing its themes through to the end. But in this moment my main reaction is that this was an immersive, propulsive, and deeply moving cinematic experience. The film manages to be a story of betrayal and revenge intertwined with a wilderness survival thriller.
On the wilderness front, the film does a great job of showing the danger of the intimate (as in, getting too close to a bear) and of the wide open space. The camera alternates between zoomed in close ups and sweeping overhead views of the snow-covered terrain. The land is its own character, alternately a deadly enemy and a savior. The brutality of the bear attack sequence sets the tone, and everything sits on a razor's edge from then on out.
In terms of the human side of the story, I felt that it was very well-realized. Glass is a compelling lead, but the film is filled with interesting supporting characters, from the good-hearted Jim (whose fear overrides his compassion in a moment that he will regret for the rest of the film) to Hikuc (Arthur RedCloud), a displaced Pawnee man who is journeying south in search of more of his people. Fitzgerald is a weasel, but even in his cruelty and selfishness, what we learn about his past makes sense of his actions, despicable though they might be. This is a film with so many moving parts--an interlocking mix of motivations and intentions--but it all works somehow with multiple minor climaxes stacked on one another and leading to the final act.
I thought that the performances were very solid. DiCaprio is an actor who I sometimes struggle to see as his characters. This is nothing against him or his talent, but I often watch him in a film and become hyper aware that I am watching an actor acting. While this film was filled with actor moments, the strong presence of the wilderness and the raw physicality of the role meant that DiCaprio (and the rest of the cast) really disappeared into their characters for me.
There were a handful of small issues I had with the film. In a few scenes there was something about the sound balance that sounded off to me, and it was always when it sounded like the dialogue wasn't quite in sync with what was on screen. Maybe I just imagined this, but a few times something in the sound took me out of the film for a moment. I am also still thinking over how some of the themes resolved. And kind of adjacent to that, I'm thinking back on the use of indigenous people in the film, and particularly one use of them as an almost deus ex machina-type device. The film is very even-handed in the portrayal of different indigenous groups, but that one element felt a bit off to me. The most one-dimensional characters are the French fur-trappers.
This was a really compelling, thrilling film. The kind of movie that feels like it's only just beginning and you realize you're an hour in.
The Revenant, 2015
In the 1820s, tracker Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), accompanied by his teenage son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), guides a troop of fur trappers through dangerous territory. When most of the trappers are killed in an ambush by a group of Arikara people who are seeking a kidnapped Arikara woman, the survivors retreat into the snowy mountains. While scouting for food, Hugh is savagely mauled by a bear. Unwilling to put Hugh out of his misery, the leader (Domnhall Gleeson) leaves Hawk, a man named Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), and a young man named Jim (Will Poulter) to stay with Hugh through his last hours of life. But Fitzgerald has other ideas, and his actions set off a tragic series of events.
I am still turning over in my mind how successful I think this film was in terms of seeing its themes through to the end. But in this moment my main reaction is that this was an immersive, propulsive, and deeply moving cinematic experience. The film manages to be a story of betrayal and revenge intertwined with a wilderness survival thriller.
On the wilderness front, the film does a great job of showing the danger of the intimate (as in, getting too close to a bear) and of the wide open space. The camera alternates between zoomed in close ups and sweeping overhead views of the snow-covered terrain. The land is its own character, alternately a deadly enemy and a savior. The brutality of the bear attack sequence sets the tone, and everything sits on a razor's edge from then on out.
In terms of the human side of the story, I felt that it was very well-realized. Glass is a compelling lead, but the film is filled with interesting supporting characters, from the good-hearted Jim (whose fear overrides his compassion in a moment that he will regret for the rest of the film) to Hikuc (Arthur RedCloud), a displaced Pawnee man who is journeying south in search of more of his people. Fitzgerald is a weasel, but even in his cruelty and selfishness, what we learn about his past makes sense of his actions, despicable though they might be. This is a film with so many moving parts--an interlocking mix of motivations and intentions--but it all works somehow with multiple minor climaxes stacked on one another and leading to the final act.
I thought that the performances were very solid. DiCaprio is an actor who I sometimes struggle to see as his characters. This is nothing against him or his talent, but I often watch him in a film and become hyper aware that I am watching an actor acting. While this film was filled with actor moments, the strong presence of the wilderness and the raw physicality of the role meant that DiCaprio (and the rest of the cast) really disappeared into their characters for me.
There were a handful of small issues I had with the film. In a few scenes there was something about the sound balance that sounded off to me, and it was always when it sounded like the dialogue wasn't quite in sync with what was on screen. Maybe I just imagined this, but a few times something in the sound took me out of the film for a moment. I am also still thinking over how some of the themes resolved. And kind of adjacent to that, I'm thinking back on the use of indigenous people in the film, and particularly one use of them as an almost deus ex machina-type device. The film is very even-handed in the portrayal of different indigenous groups, but that one element felt a bit off to me. The most one-dimensional characters are the French fur-trappers.
This was a really compelling, thrilling film. The kind of movie that feels like it's only just beginning and you realize you're an hour in.