The Revenant

"The Revenant" is a singular experience that raises the bar for cinema in many ways. It’s extremely impressive on a production level, so full of moments that would stand out in any other film that we take them for granted as we watch (that’s a good thing) but on an atmospheric level it’s nothing short of enthralling and deeply moving. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Hugh Glass is continuously beaten up in this movie, and his survival story is incredible to experience, not inspiring in any way, but the movie isn’t trying to be inspiring. His physical struggle of survival is powerful to watch on a visceral level, and it would not have this power without DiCaprio’s performance. Largely without dialogue, Leo effectively evokes lots of, and each stage of his physical condition feels gruelingly real DiCaprio is matched equally by Tom Hardy, who has clearly sunk deeply into his role. Hardy has always been great at playing a brute, but with each performance, it’s a different kind. Here, he embodies an animalistic and merciless nature that is significant to the savagery the film emphasizes about the people in this world. It really feels like Hardy has transformed himself, and we see very clearly it through his hollow, ape-ish gaze. So much of the film is without dialogue, and relies on experiencing Glass’s survival and bathing in the atmosphere. The combination of the story and atmosphere is poetic like a Terrence Malick film, where most of the content and subtext of the story comes from the experience. The emphasis on nature gives hints to a God pervading the film, and the film explores this idea a little, but not quite enough. For a film that feels so spiritual, it left me unmoved. The attention that went in to the production was not the same attention that went into creating an emotional or spiritual takeaway for the audience. It is so impressive that sometimes it forgets to build meaning. Emmanuel Lubezki is of the greatest cinematographers because he has been reinventing cinema for years and we didn’t even realize it until we started giving him his deserved Oscars. Everything he films turns to gold, as he extracts the beauty in everything he films. This adds an extra layer to these films, and this layer can be seen in every frame of his best works. The Tree of Life relied on an experiential quality and a feeling of the sequences to enjoy that was captured in his swift camera movements. In "Gravity," the perspective of looking down at earth in a contemplative manner was key to the full experience, and Lubezki captured that entirely visually. The long takes he’s known for that peaked with "Birdman" show what a film can accomplish without interrupting a take. His signature organic movements, wide angle lens, and depth of field are what makes all of these achievements possible. That, and some sort of magic only he can strip from a camera. "The Revenant" may be his greatest achievement yet, because it exemplifies all of these and more. Movies don’t usually belong to the cinematographer but I really do think Lubezki is the MVP here. Each frame highlights the cold, untouched wilderness, weather muddy, snowy, or misty with unparalleled beauty. He and Iñarritu use long takes once again that are so often they simply blend in to the film and don’t usually call attention to themselves, even though you will often be watching in awe. Nature plays a large role in the film and Lubezki captures this perhaps better than anything in the story does. Production designer Jack Fisk creates subtle but realistic sets that look organically built, weather they’re Native American or American settler settlements, that bring you into the unique setting of the snowy American western 19th century. The costumes accomplish this as well, as does the fact that the crew ventured out to the wilderness to film everything. Without the on location filming, the film would have lost its atmospheric qualities, which are extremely powerful. The climax of the film certainly evokes a kind of message that feels connected to other aspects of the film, but too loosely. This is because so much less time is spent developing themes than it is atmosphere and impressive stuff, that when it comes to the film’s climax, it doesn’t feel like the themes dominate the work the way a spiritual climax should. Part of this is because our protagonist doesn’t deal with a lot of turmoil that is not physical. He wants to overcome death in his family, but it is unexplained as to what exactly about the death of his wife is tormenting him and what she represents. She repeats to him a line that he repeats to his son about how trees look like they’re going to fall, but don’t, but this seems to apply too basically to the character’s survival than it does to themes of revenge, nature and brutality. What the film captures best thematically is a sense of a society that is full of meaningless pursuits of survival and violence.

This movie was absolutely perfect, I loved everything about it. The soundtrack, the story, the characters ando the ambientation. I really DO recommend this film.