The Revenant

I am not the outdoorsy type. My idea of camping is to view a sun-dappled forest from the terrace of my hotel room clutching a glass of chardonnay and a can of bug spray. How I survived my years as a Boy Scout is a mystery and attributable to my stubborn force of will and need to please, not my ability to pitch a tent. So I love an opportunity to commune with nature from the comfort of a leather seat at a reserved seating movie theater. The Revenant is equal parts Rocky Mountain voyeurism and reminder that nature wants to kill you.

Alejandro G. Inarritu who won an Oscar last year for directing a claustrophobic look at the entertainment business in Birdman (2014) shifts gears and opens up his cinematic frame to the great western skies. Filmed in the Canadian Rockies- just north of where the real-life story occurred, The Revenant's  setting is stunningly beautiful. Nature looms over the shots with the mountains, forests, rivers and the sky itself becoming an audience of the film's action- the gorgeous tranquility of nature juxtaposed with the brutal story that unfolds upon its stage.

The Revenant is not for the  weak of stomach. The gut-wrenching brutality begins from the first scene with an attack from Native Americans setting the tale of survival and revenge/justice in bloody motion. It brought to mind the merciless opening to Saving Private Ryan (1998) and the purpose is similar- to make it clear that the rosy view of the classic western is a Hollywood-ized lie. The West that our ancestors faced was deadly- viciously so.

Leonardo DiCaprio is trapper and guide Hugh Glass (ironically named considering how un-fragile he turns out to be) who, along with his regiment, is being pursued through the wilderness by a group of vengeful Arikara natives who believe they have kidnapped their chief's daughter.

If the threat of being skewered and scalped wasn't enough, Glass is attacked by a pissed-off grizzly bear and sustains injuries that leave him barely clinging to life. The bear attack scene has gotten the lion's share of attention from the media- and rightly so. It's devastating and this along with the recent nature thriller Backcountry (2014) have convinced me that bears are assholes. Through the care of his commanding officer (Domhnall Gleeson) and his son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), Glass miraculously survives. But his suffering is just beginning. Resident racist prick John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) "volunteers" to stay behind to care for Glass so the rest of the company can escape to safety. It's not long before Glass is buried alive next to the body of his beloved son. Survival becomes vengeance as Glass crawls through the wilderness to track down Fitzgerald and make him pay.

Inarritu's camera is in constant, effortless motion, moving from expansive wide shots of nature to intimate extreme close-ups. Rather than wider shots of action scenes, we get a closer, more personal view of the butchery. We learn the terrain of these faces the same way we explore the mountain passes and rivers. Eyes are a focal point- gazing out of scarred faces into the darkness and the future. The use of light flares and breath steaming up the lens gives a documentary quality to the film without succumbing to the handheld camera technique so popular today. The camerawork smoothly propels the story from one savage scene to the next.

DiCaprio and Hardy are mesmerizing. Throughout the torture of Glass, we get the sensation that DiCaprio is not an actor going back to his trailer after Inarritu yells,"Cut!" He is a man having his body and soul broken. There is no room for ticks or flourishes. DeCaprio inhabits this role fully. Hardy is sensational as the moral-less Fitzgerald. There hasn't been a villain this cold since Ralph Fiennes' turn as a Nazi commandant in Schindler's List (1993).

The top prize of Best Film, Director, and Actor at this year's Academy Awards are this film's for the taking. Hardy's "screw-you-Oscar" attitude may cripple his chances- but he deserves the accolade.

If you can handle the gore- go see this film on the big screen. It is stunningly, terrifyingly beautiful.