A Pompous Exercise in Film-making

Rating: 6/10 (3 March 2016)

The Revenant is an intense but excruciatingly long film. It recounts the true story of the incredible return of Hugh Glass, an ace fur trapper, who was left behind as "dead" by a treacherous accomplice after being badly mauled by a bear. Without subtitling, barely a sentence can be understood of the heavily accented drawl. Not that Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Hugh Glass has much to say; most of the time he is grunting or grimacing. Other than that he also bites into live fish, eats raw bison liver and sleeps inside a dead horse. It is definitely not an Oscar winning performance.
While the snowscape is exquisitely photographed, it can hurt your eyes. There are some stunning sequences, among them the bear attack. Despite the film being so long, not much footage has been devoted to Glass's miraculous recovery. It defies belief, even if based on a true incident. The director has tried to inject some doses of mysticism, but it comes across as a pompous exercise in film-making. What linger at the end are not the travails of Hugh Glass, but the sad eyes of the native Indian chief searching for his abducted daughter.