‘The Revenant’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio is a historical survival film, directed by Alejandro Iñárritu (the director of extra-ordinary films like Birdman and the ‘Trilogy of Death‘ – Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel). The film primarily revolves around Hugh Glass, an American explorer who is badly attacked by a bear during his journey, with his band of fur trappers. Glass sees a near-death experience, but he is abandoned by his team when they find it difficult to carry him with them. The whole film is about his survival.
20 minutes into the film, you will know that it is not just another ‘survival’ movie; it does has a lot of emotions conveyed in a subtle way. It is a must watch not just for the brilliant performances, jaw dropping cinematography and visuals alone; it is a pure cinema that has so much of life into it. I am really out of words to tell about the bloody indescribable experience of watching this classic!
The writing was unimpeachable and the dialogues were at its best which throwed in a lot for character establishments (‘I ought to be like God to you. God gives, God takes away, ‘They don’t hear your voice. They just see your face’s colour’, ‘My place is right here on this rifle’s end’) and helped the audience in understanding the central character’s mind-state perfectly (Glass is questioned ‘Is it true that you killed an officer?’ and his reply is ‘I just killed a man who was trying to kill my son’). There were many other memorable lines – few to say are ‘He got everything to lose, All I had was my boy’, ‘The wind cannot defeat a tree with strong roots’, ‘Revenge is in God’s hands, not mine’, ‘I am not afraid to die anymore, I done it already’, ‘He is afraid, He knows how far I came for him’ and many more. On the flipside, there are some sub-plots in this survival and revenge story, which does not contribute much to the core actually.
The director has shot most scenes so close to realism (avoiding much CGI), choosing to be more genuine to his audience. That has contributed a lot in making many scenes look so real to the level that it makes the audience skip a heart beat (in scenes such as the climax and the scene where Hugh Glass falls from a cliff with his horse)
Put aside the questions Oscar, Leonardo DiCaprio was incredibly great! He was the heart-beat of this existential movie. He loses his voice in the first 20 minutes itself and his dialogues in this film does not even go for more than half a page; he makes the viewers go dumbstruck by such a terrific performance. His commitment to the role was so astonishing – crawling through the snow in many scenes, shooting for months in -25 degrees in Argentina, eating a raw bison liver, sleeping inside the corpse of a horse. Man, the Oscar award would feel proud to get into his hands! Tom Hardy is seen in a crucial role, delivering a praise-worthy performance!
Hearty wishes to the team which has already won three Golden Globe Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards. The OSCAR awards ceremony is happening this Sunday and we can expect a number of awards for THE REVENANT. If the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is able to win the academy award for THE REVENANT, he will be the only cinematographer to receive 3 OSCARS consecutively (He has won 2 academy awards already for Gravity (2013) and Birdman (2014))
On the whole, THE REVENANT is a must-watch cinema that should not be missed at any cost!
P.S: Am I the only one who thinks that Leonardo DiCaprio should stop having hallucinations of his dead wife? (Inception, Shutter Island, The Revenant) 😛
Review by: Rahman
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