Good movie, bad representation of history

Rating: 6/10 (31 January 2016)

Let me start the review by saying that I actually enjoyed this movie. Sure it was much slower paced than most movies these days, but honestly, it's a survival story. What did you expect? The movie, based on a true story, centers around frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his struggle to survive in the wilderness after John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and a young Jim Bridger (Will Poulter) leave him for dead following a near fatal bear attack. Along the way, Glass is attacked twice by hostile Native Americans and manages to save an enslaved Native American girl from some French bad guys before finally being found by his exploration party. He and the leader of the party set out to find Fitzgerald after Bridger is arrested for treason and Glass eventually ends up killing Fitzgerald in a very well choreographed fight scene.
My main issue with the movie is the way they depicted Native Americans. The natives were depicted as being hostile savages always out for blood in the movie, only giving Glass a break after he saved one of their people. The reality is that the Native Americans didn't start sending arrows Glass's way whenever they caught a glimpse of him. They rushed to help him and provided him with supplies and sustenance that he probably would have died without. I thought we were beyond the idea that Native Americans were mindless fighting machines that needed to be put down by force. I guess the Emmy- winning Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee taught the writers nothing. Or maybe they haven't even seen it. Who knows.
Another big issue this movie has is in the way it ended. In the movie, Glass and Fitzgerald have one final bloody showdown. The fight is well choreographed but ends somewhat anticlimactically when Glass sends a dying Fitzgerald down the river (literally) to be scalped by Native Americans (who, again, are mindlessly and illogically hostile). The real confrontation was less violent but still interesting. After the events that took place, the real Fitzgerald moved to Nebraska and enlisted in the army at Fort Atkinson. The two had a confrontation but Glass decided to spare Fitzgerald's life because of the heavy penalty that came with murdering an enlisted army official. As for Jim Bridger, Glass gave him a pass due to how young and naive Bridger was at the time (he was still a teenager).
My opinion has always been this: If you want to make a movie about a fur trapper/explorer, go for it. If you want to loosely base it off of true events, go for it. Many people do this and are successful at it. As a standalone movie, The Revenant was good. And I understand that it's based on a book of the same name, but I have qualms about the book too.
However, if you want to make a movie/book based entirely on a true story, with the same character names, settings, etc., you have something of a responsibility to depict it accurately. You can put some embellished details here and there, that's fine, but twisting and warping reality to fit your concept of entertainment is pathetic and, to be frank, disrespectful to those involved. These were real people. These were real events. Real lives were affected. And especially when you paint Native Americans in such a disgustingly bad light, that's where I draw the line.
But I digress. Besides those major issues I have with the film, everything else was very well done. The production, the CGI, the acting, the dialogue (for the most part), the direction, etc. It was all good and it all worked well together. Do I think it's a good movie? For about the fourth-ish time, yes. Do I think it's a great movie? No, not exactly, and even though I like it, I don't think it deserves all the acclaim and attention it's getting. If it weren't for the major issues listed above, this movie would have gotten an 8, easily. But I also think it would have been just as interesting if they hadn't made the Native Americans villain-like and instead showed them helping him just as they did in real life. And to see Glass hunt down the man that left him for dead, only to spare his life when he does find him? That has a lot of emotional potential. I'm sure any director worth his weight in gold could make that work.
I give this movie a 6, but a reluctant 6 because I can tell they did everything they could to make this movie entertaining.