Intense, beautiful, gripping

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2016)

The Revenant has a gripping story, gorgeous cinematography, fascinating depictions of time and place, and a spiritual dimension I appreciated and associate with the director. What I liked most:
* the story arc -- lots of involving and suspenseful scenes within a larger story that is part survival drama part revenge tale.
* the "grit and grim" -- did you ever see a movie about someone in a harsh time and place, and find yourself working to overlook an actor's coiffed hair or capped teeth? Or a cottage room, for example, that just seems a bit too picturesque? This ain't a problem here. The harshness of this world, which includes lots of grizzled men surviving in the freezing wilderness, is unrelenting.
* the spiritual dimension -- nature is "red in tooth and claw" but Inarritu gives time to its majesty too. That is to say, the God in this movie is pretty fearsome but is also there in the wind and trees and mountain vistas. (Note the film's main bad guy at one point quotes his father describing God as a squirrel he shot and ate. Maybe the ultimate sin is not recognizing the beauty and awesomeness of the world as it was given to us?) The humans in the movie do all sorts of terrible things to each other and to animals, but the fur trapper Glass (Decaprio) also embodies extraordinary human strength in the face of adversity. His strength comes from his loved ones -- namely the whisperings in the wind of his wife, her spirit and her philosophies, as well as his love for his son. There is a beautiful scene in which Glass dreams of his beloved son, hugs him within the ruins of a missionary church, some of its frescoes still intact. In keeping with the balance of beauty/goodness and ugliness/violence/death, the frescoes depict Spanish colonial soldiers torturing indigenous peoples.
* the "equal time": I'm old and grew up watching traditional cowboy and Indian movies. So I appreciate this film's care in creating complex characters and motivations on all sides, even the "Rees" (Arikara tribe)] when they attack Glass and his fellow trappers at the beginning of the movie.
Those were my favorite elements but there is lots more to appreciate, especially the fine acting. If you can handle very intense movies, by all means see this one. And if you haven't, I also recommend Biutiful by Inarritu.