A gripping tale of survival and revenge

Rating: 9/10 (2 June 2017)

Hugh Glass is working as a guide for a group of trappers when they are ambushed by a group of native Arikara who are looking for their chief's kidnapped daughter. The surviving trappers along with Glass and his son escape down river but not long afterwards Glass is horrifically mauled by a bear. He manages to kill it but only just survives. While the main party go ahead to get help Glass is left with his son and two of the trappers. Fitzgerald, the elder trapper thinks they should leave him despite being paid a bonus. When he thinks they are alone he tries to smother Glass but is stopped by his son who he then murders. Glass is then left all alone in the wilderness and isn't expected to last more than a few hours however he does survive and struggles back to health and starts to make his way back to Fort Kiowa. He will have a struggle to find anything to eat and must cross hostile territory to get there; it will test him to the limit of his endurance. Meanwhile Fitzgerald has made it back to Fort Kiowa and has told everybody he did everything he could to save Glass; when Glass finally gets there he will want his revenge.
Like so many stories 'based on real events' a little bit of reading suggests quite a few liberties have been taken with the actual facts that doesn't matter too much though as this is still a fine story. The opening ambush is exciting and quickly got me gripped. The story got even more tense afterwards. The bear attack was brilliantly shot in a way that made it look very real and very brutal. Once he is alone in the wilderness the film perfectly captures the bleakness of terrain; you can almost feel the cold as Glass struggles through snow, icy water and even shelters inside the remains of a dead horse. The cast does a fine job; it isn't surprising that Leonardo DiCaprio earned an Oscar for this he did a great job as Glass and certainly suffered for his art in the freezing conditions. The rest of the cast are impressive too; especially Tom Hardy, who plays the villainous Fitzgerald. At two and a half hours this certainly isn't a short film but at no time did I find myself looking at the clock. Overall I'd certainly recommend it although some of the more violent scenes might bother some viewers.