A sophisticated entertainment with a glimmer of poetry

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2016)

The Revenant is not a great movie, it is a solid, sophisticated entertainment, which sometimes achieves certain poetic intensity. But above all, it is a product made conscientiously to try and entertain big audiences, especially young people and adolescents. The plot, as known, is fairly linear and predictable, we do not care so much what will happen but how it will happen, and here the script writers have put their greatest efforts. The film is enhanced by multiple cinematographic, literary and historical references, although many of them may seem obvious to an experienced film viewer. The film succeeds at times to evoke the spirit of the novel Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, because of its obsession with open spaces, exploring long distances and sometimes a true visionary power, trying to explore the American dream of racial domination and expansion under a standard of a relentless violence. Moreover, there are also references to other major films, such as Dersu Uzala, by Kurosawa, in a key scene in which the main character must share his helplessness with the Pawnee Indian. In my opinion, the movie reaches its splendor during this part. There are even references to ancient literary traditions, such as the Song of the Cid, an epic poem of the Spanish Middle Ages (a clue scene almost at the end of the movie). All told, the film, like all major Hollywood productions, suffers from gigantism, exaggerations and unnecessary cruelties of dramatic effects, and some implausibility. The characters still tend to be quite credible, but the superlative performances achieved disguise the little affection that writers have for their characters.