Alejandro G. Inarritu achieves an amazing feat in filmmaking with this stunning survival story

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2016)

Just as the protagonist in his latest film, Alejandro G. Inarritu had to struggle and will himself in finishing this ambitious project. The production experienced numerous setbacks with locations, switching of producers, cast and crew members suffering from hypothermia and an overblown budget. This had me worrying that the project was just impossible to make. Inarritu pushed through and the eventual end result is the complete vision of a genius creative mind displaying some of the best filmmaking I've seen in a while.
The Revenant is an intense and visceral viewing experience based on the true story of Hugh Glass's survival story in the frontier of 1823. The screenplay of Inarritu is pretty straight forward: a group of fur trappers, including Glass, are finishing up their deployment when Hugh gets attacked and mauled by a grizzly bear, leaving him near dead. His fellow trappers see no use in trying to keep him alive and eventually leave him to die. Remarkably, Glass survives and vows to take revenge on the trappers that left him for dead. In the Revenant, you follow Hugh Glass on his incredible survival journey through the dangers of hostile natives and the forces of nature itself. The reason this movie works so well is because you truly care about its protagonist, played brilliantly by Leonardo DiCaprio. He further displays his incredible range as an actor in playing a role with minimal dialogue, with parts in the native American language as well. This physically demanding role forced DiCaprio to show the internal rage and struggle of Glass mainly through his facial expressions and body movements, and he does so exquisitely. All of the acting performances were impeccable including Tom Hardy, who plays a fellow fur trapper John Fitzgerald and matches Leo's intensity in every scene. Domhnall Gleeson, who plays captain Henry, impressively holds his own alongside these two acting heavy weights in mediating some of their interactions. Another addition to his remarkable resume of 2015. I was surprised by Will Poulter's casting in the film, as his young career consisted mainly of comedic roles. However, he gave a solid performance as the young and earnest trapper Bridger. Credit Inarritu for getting great performances out of all his actors and achieving good chemistry between them.
Another great achievement of the film is the unbelievable cinematography by Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki. Here, the man is on top of his game, showing that he is the best cinematographer working today. Throughout the movie, he only works with natural light created by sunlight and fire, and uses them beautifully. The movie looks stunning and features gorgeous landscapes, long takes to heighten intensity and meticulous camera-work. Noticeably in the opening battle scene, which is one long intense take where the camera point-of-view switches between different character perspectives. Some of his trademark low angle close-ups were even used during these scenes where water, spit and blood would find their way onto the camera lens. In addition, the composition of some nature images were reminiscent of his work in Terrence Malik's "The Tree of Life" and fitted nicely during the spiritual parts of the movie.
The score by famous Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is rather understated but used effectively to convey pain and despair. The sounds of the cold wind, snowfall, streaming rivers and mud are already sufficient to make us feel like we are suffering alongside the characters.
All aspects of this film were done perfectly, whether it was the sound, visuals, the costumes, acting or editing. This all results in a unique film viewing experience I've never had before, transporting me to the ice cold frontier. This all was topped by the awe- inspiring bear attack scene, which is already turning iconic in the film industry.
All in all, the Revenant is a great achievement in filmmaking, thanks to the passion and sacrifice of all the people involved. As Leo stated: "Suffering is temporary, film is forever."