Outstanding performance, an epic masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2016)

At a glimpse, The Revenant seems like a movie you would reluctantly sit and spend more than 150 minutes on if you are not into that kind of adventure-drama you get to see from the vague sequences of the trailer. Nevertheless, once you start watching the very first minutes, you are there, almost transfixed by the lifelike dynamic of events taking place at a good pace, captivated by the actors' brilliant performance and their tenacious struggle for survival, the violent encounters, the sufferings, the awe-inspiring natural and wild landscapes.
DiCaprio gives an outstanding performance as the movie leading character Hugh Glass. Tom Hardy compliments the cast as his tough antagonist, the manipulative and fugitive John Fitzgerald. More than anything else, the movie focuses on the love for life, deep-rooted into men's psyches, deeper than their fears. Nature's powers above man's will, is another force that drives the movie events. Inspiring is the well depicted audacity of the men involved in their quests, both the protagonists and the local Indians. There is a fine line between loyalty and betrayal. You get to see individuals haunted by their past, determined for their future goals. In nowadays more and more emasculated urban society, through this movie, you get a nice cold breeze of early 19th century struggle for life, manhood and never-ending efforts for survival.
The camera smoothly shifts between wide angle landscapes and close- up focusing on actions which offers an absolutely rewarding experience. The director aimed at natural lighting which adds to the authenticity of what you see. The camera proximity to the object or characters along the movie offers stunning captions of brutal confrontations between men, the man and the animal as well as characters' facial expressions that reveal inner battles when no word is spoken. I saw the movie on a PC screen, no doubt the visual satisfaction is doubled on a theater screen.
The soundtrack is like the flashing light of a lighthouse: unexpected, dramatic, keeping on its own rhythm, yet adding for better to the overall drama of the movie. It reminds of brief sequences of the chords of Tchaikovsky's last symphony final movement: there is a long void and then similar sharp tragic notes of strings.
Nine months of filming in remote wild environment, natural light, very good cast and few CGI have produced an exceptionally good film. This is an epic masterpiece and a real achievement of cinematography.