Ugly and Beautiful at the Same Time

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2016)

This is a hard movie to watch, and while I enjoyed it, it is not one I would jump at to watch again.
The cast and crew really earned the awards they won for this movie. Not only was it shot on location, out in the woods, in the harsh weather conditions, without any artificial light, you can see the effort and the suffering the actors in this movie had to go through for their art. This is movie making at it's best.
It is difficult to make it through the whole movie. Due to the long time it took to get from event to event, and the sometimes really gross and disturbing images, it was often times hard to keep my attention, and other times it made me want to cover my eyes. However, I do appreciate that when a character gets injured, they aren't "fixed" in the next scene, even though sometimes you want it to hurry up. Also, as a history major, I was impressed with the realistic and historical accuracy of life in the 1800's, for both Native Americans and the White Man.
This is beautifully shot, beautifully produced, and beautifully acted. If you are willing to sit through a difficult movie, with not a lot of dialogue, and are interested in seeing the ugly side of the frontier along with it's amazing beauty, then you will most definitely like this movie.
Even if you never watch it again, this is well worth seeing at least once.