Review - The Revenant

Breathtaking. Brutal. Brilliant.

Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki creates visual poetry onscreen.

Most of the survival dramas are pretty simple in their thematic approach. The protagonist rises above all the odds and fights against the adversities by sheer will and courage. However, Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant breaks the mould - here, our hero isn't alive by his mere strength or will to survive, but he sustains because of his luck. Gods must have blessed him. Otherwise, he would have been a part of clear blue waters and icy frozen soil of wilderness. 

Our guide to stark naked landscape of Wyoming is outstanding Leonardo DiCaprio, playing  fur-trapper Hugh Glass, who gets brutally mauled by a bear during an unfortunate expedition. Set in early 1800s, this is the time when the rivers were deep blue, the land was pristine and untouched, the air was clear and non-toxic. Glass becomes a liability soon after he is assaulted by the bear, the team leader (played by Domhnall Gleeson) decides to move ahead, while assigning three of his peers to "watch over" suffering Glass. One of them is a cunning man called John Fitzgerald (played by Tom Hardy), who has some other plans rather than to nurse Glass.

What follows is the tale of revenge, greed, back-stabbing and pain. Pain, the most universal emotion, is conveyed in the most unflinching manner. Not only the physical pain, but the pain of losing loved ones and the pain of the past. Glass is haunted by the memories of his wife, presumably dead because of a colonial attack. However, Iñárritu's film isn't merely about elementary feelings. It is about humanity and wildness waltzing with blood and sweat to stay alive. It is about cyclic nature of life, which morphs into one violent instance to another. In one of the most haunting scene of this year, Glass cuts out a horse's belly,  takes out his guts - not to eat any of the flesh,  but to take shelter. To stay alive from the icy cold weather. What is dead for one, is the means of life for another.  This thought has never been so powerfully established by any other film of recent time.

Leonardo DiCaprio has given his heart and soul to this film. Undoubtedly, it is his most physical performance, for which he must have physically suffered along with his character. Shot on icy cold locations of Canada and Argentina, clearly The Revenant is challenging for any actor. But what holds about Leonardo's performance is his raw and genuine emotions. His face expresses grief, agony and his eyes are fueled with revenge. He deserves whatever accolade is thrown at him.

The conjurer of light and shadows, the ever-outstanding Emmanuel Lubezki takes another leap forward. His cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful and raw, that every frame of the film evokes some certain feeling. Shot in natural light, you can actually take any random snapshot of the film and frame it on your wall. He owns this film as much as Iñárritu or Leonardo.

There is blood and beauty, violence and grace together in the same film. Man and the nature have never been more close. Apart from slightly long runtime, The Revenant delivers an enthralling, visceral cinematic experience which will stay with you for a long time.

4/5