Equally beautiful and ugly

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2016)

I am extremely surprised with the tepid reactions by so many on this sub. I absolutely loved this film, and I was expecting to react as many here have instead. Maybe this is because I love Lubezki and Malick and find this to almost be a Bizarro-Malickean film (I might make a post to expand on that later).
A lot can be said about the stunning cinematography, great performances, and moving score, but while those elements helped immerse me in the film and made it an entertaining two and a half hours (that felt more like just two to me), the film's themes are what really struck me. I've only been home for thirty minutes since seeing it this afternoon so bear with me.
There are the obvious themes about survival and revenge, but I also think the film explores other ideas through these main themes -- namely cooperation, selflessness, tribalism, destructive selfishness/greed in man (and its relation to tribalism/racism/etc), and others that I need to put a finger on still.
I think there's a reason that there are there are different nationalities and tribes present in the story (US, French, Pawnee, Arikara, Sioux in dialogue). I think there's a reason that neither are truly friendly to the other, with the Sioux killing Pawnees and the Americans not showing much compassion to the French (and vice versa and intermixed and so on). I think it was similarly purposeful that Glass has a half-Pawnee son, that he is assisted by the lone Pawnee man, that his rescuing of Powaqa ensures he does not suffer the same fate as Fitzgerald, and that the young boy (Bridge?) also survives to the end of the film. Imagery that I think also highlights these themes include the scene where the lone buffalo is abandoned by the group (similar to Glass) to be killed by a pack of wolves, Bridge feeding the lone surviving Native American woman, the scenes with Glass and the Pawnee man, and even the bear and her cubs relate to survival and a group dynamic.
This isn't the most articulate presentation to my impressions of the film, but these are the ideas that are swirling around in my head thirty minutes after seeing it.