The Revenant

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2016)

The definition is "revenant": 1) a person who returns, 2) a person who returns as a spirit after death; ghost, I was excited about this film months before its release, even more when it received award nominations and wins, from Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros, Babel, Biutiful, Birdman). Based on a true story, set in 1823, in the unsettled wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase, quasi-military hunting party of trappers and hunters, commanded by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), are hunting for pelts. The hunting party are ambushed by hostile Native American Arikara Indians, only half of the party escape on one of their rafts, they salvage as much as they can while still under fire from the attacking Arikara, Henry knows they will still be pursued. The party are further slowed down when experienced hunter Hugh Glass (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes separated from the others, he stumbles on a mother grizzly bear and her cubs, the enraged grizzly savagely attacks him, Glass eventually kills the bear, but he is left severely injured and nearly dead himself. The hunting party can only provide rudimentary medical care, they take wounded Glass with them, but he is on a makeshift stretcher, slowing them down, finally one of the party, John Fitzgerald (Oscar nominated Tom Hardy), suggests killing Glass. Initially Henry tries to kill Glass himself, but is unable to do so, instead he offers payment for several men to stay behind with Glass, only Glass' son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) and young Jim Bridger (Son of Rambow's Will Poulter) volunteer, Henry ups the reward when Fitzgerald mentions the likelihood of the boys and Glass being killed, Fitzgerald volunteers also. Fitzgerald promises Henry to stay with Glass until he dies and give him a proper burial, but once separated from the hunting party Fitzgerald tries to kill Glass, who cannot speak while wounded, by smothering him, Hawk stumbles on this, and Fitzgerald kills him while Glass watches in agony, Bridger returns and Fitzgerald claims he does not know where Hawk is, and makes up seeing Indians, though Bridger is hesitant he agrees with Fitzgerald to leave Glass behind, leaving behind a canteen with a carved spiral on it. Glass, put in a shallow grave covered in earth, finds strength, though struggling to recover, to crawl away, walking through the woods and surviving feeding on roots, the same Arikara who attacked earlier are tracking him, the chief is looking for his kidnapped daughter, Glass narrowly avoids a confrontation at the river by floating down the rapids. Meanwhile Henry and the surviving hunting party have reached their nearly dilapidated barracks outpost, Fitzgerald and Bridger make their way to the outpost, Bridger realises Fitzgerald was lying to leave Glass behind, Fitzgerald intimidates him into keeping silent, and when they reach the outpost Fitzgerald tells Henry that Glass died and Hawk disappeared, Henry gives him his reward, Bridger refuses his payment. Glass encounters Hikuc (Arthur RedCloud), a friendly Native American, who like him seeks revenge, the Pawnee builds Glass a shelter during a blizzard, and the next morning Glass finds his friend hanged, he was murdered by French pelt hunters camped nearby, he rescues an Indian girl being raped, this is in fact the kidnapped daughter of the chief, he takes the Pawnee's horse that the French hunters stole, he accidentally leaves behind the canteen with the spiral carving. Glass encounters the Arikara, but escapes falling off a cliff, killing the horse and wounding himself further, Glass keeps himself warm during the night in the hollowed horse corpse, while back at the outpost a lone hunter is found carrying the canteen, a search party is organised, Fitzgerald realises Glass must still be alive, so he empties the outpost safe and flees. Henry's group eventually find Glass and bring him back to the outpost, furious Henry fails in finding Fitzgerald in a search, Glass assures Henry that Bridger was lied to, and is released from imprisonment for treason, Henry intends to bring back Fitzgerald dead or alive, Glass insists on coming with him. Henry and Glass split up to approach Fitzgerald from separate angles, but Fitzgerald ambushes and kills Henry, Glass finds him deceased, but sets up a trap to trick Fitzgerald, he gets shot in the shoulder, Glass chases him to the river bank where they fight. Glass stops himself killing Fitzgerald, remembering words from the Pawnee, so he instead pushes heavily wounded Fitzgerald downstream, into the hands of the approaching Arikara, the chief, with his daughter returned, kills Fitzgerald and spares Glass, in the end Glass has completed his revenge, but his flashing visions of his dead wife and son will remain. Also starring Paul Anderson as Anderson, Kristoffer Joner as Murphy, Joshua Burge as Stubby Bill, Lukas Haas as Jones, Brendan Fletcher as Fryman and Duane Howard as Elk Dog. DiCaprio as the shaggy frontiersman gives a superb award winning performance as the real man struggling through savagery and harsh conditions, Hardy is also fantastic as the menacing villain who leaves him for dead, the supporting stars are good too. This true story set in the wilderness of 1820s America, about revenge, redemption and survival is astonishing, watching the man alone fighting to stay alive, and punish those who betrayed him, with fantastic cinematography, natural lighting and intense emotion, it is a brilliant must see historical revenge adventure. It won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, and it was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Production Design, it won the BAFTA for Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Film, and it was nominated for Best Editing, Best Original Music for Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten Nicolai and Best Makeup and Hair, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and it was nominated for Best Original Score. Outstanding!