A great survival tale

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2016)

I'm not great at describing shot composition or style, but I can say that the sheer variety of striking visuals is what gives the film its energy. The trappers walking through a tall forest with mirror-like water up to their thighs, the Aguirre-like views of a threatening shoreline as the men make their way downriver, the nighttime scene of three raging bonfires in the snow as the hero devours raw bison on his hands and knees, the hero's hand erupting up out of the grave (really, the director did that), the half-ruined stone church with a silently tolling bell, the sunlight piercing through the Fort's looming walls, the small bird emerging from a woman's bullet wound, and on and on. That's without mentioning the underwater shots where the river's clarity tells you just how bloody cold it is, or all the shocking viscera (this is a really violent movie, because otherwise it would be narrated by David Attenburough), or the endless Peter Jackson landscapes, or shots of smoke rising into tree branches because metaphor... it's a real banquet. It reminded me of those red goggle toys you have as kids, where you slide a paper disc with film into it and pull a lever to look at packs of wolves, cedar trees, Niagra Falls... only this time... for revenge.
A timeless classic