Larger than life explorers and injuns tale wherein cast and crew really earned their money

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2016)

Leonardo DiCaprio is Hugh Glass, the leader of a fur trapping expedition in the 1820s. Glass's tale of survival after a mauling by a grizzly bear and being abandoned by the two remaining members of his party was told in Michael Punke's 2002 novel 'The Revenant: A novel of revenge'. By the way, a revenant is one who returns, as if from the dead â€“ in case, like me, you didn't know the meaning of the word.
The action takes place on the upper Missouri River in present day Montana, North and South Dakota, with the original event bear attack recorded as taking place in May. The snow, water, blizzards, snow melt rivers, not to mention at least two Indian tribes and competitor expeditions make it an incredibly challenging environment, and underlines the unlikeliness of Glass's survival and 320 km journey to Fort Kiowa. These conditions are most convincingly demonstrated, and it must have been just awful for the cast and crew. Truly Mr DiCaprio earned his fee!
The settings are wonderful and the rivers, waterfalls, immense conifer forests lovingly shot looking straight up through the mist, rain and snow make you want to visit the areas â€“ but at the height of summer.
Initially the film is slow and I found it difficult to work out who was who in the murky near dawn and dusk light. It is very violent, with long detailed scenes that pull no punches, which makes for a gritty experience that underpins the drama. In my opinion, it is too long overall and the opportunities lie in the first half. As the film progresses, the stunts become more and more amazing, making it increasingly difficult to remain convinced of the veracity of the story. But after a while, one realises that this doesn't matter and it turns into a wild bucky ride to the certainty of resolution of the moral dilemmas developed along the way.