Revenant review

The Revenant

Review by zulfi

                The evolution of man has taken place against all the odds. The fragile physique of a human had been shielded from a lot of external agents to get to what it is now. Weather, the cruel and biting of all these agents, had been fought by a human body to survive itself into this epoch or era. Early man in his fur clad exterior to a modern person wearing technologically virtuous custom made shoe for meeting all the quotients of comfort had taken a giant leap. ‘The revenant’ describes this giant leap. But in a retrospective way.

                In its heart, Revenant is a survival movie. This survival instinct hadn’t just been limited to the physical angle but had been extended to include the psyche. The movie is loosely based on a frontiersman struggle to make it back to the civilization after having been stranded in the wilderness with bears and snow, and the woe of his murdered son to weigh down his shoulders. The earlier factor would have been enough for him.

                Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) assists the fur trading trappers in their hunt in northern US territory. He is a well known guide with not only ways of the location but also with the ways of the native tribesmen, Pawnees. His deceased wife was herself a native woman. He has a half Pawnee son, Hawk. At the start, we are treated to a sudden assault on the trappers by the Native Americans. Alejandro Innaritu gets this ten minute action set piece with such a gripping imagery of gore and realism that one might wonder what the lives would have before the 1900s. That the territorial aggression was and is such a strong motive, we couldn’t comprehend. Disbanded and looted, the finely reduced number of the group get on a boat with the help of Glass, on whom they rely for the next stop and course of action. None knows this wilderness better than him. But john Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), one of the crew doesn’t think so. He detests the father - son duo and doesn’t mind insulting them at the slightest opportunity.

                When Glass is subjected to a horrible mauling at the hands of a grizzly, whom he kills miraculously and with stubbornness, Fitzgerald manages to sway the scouting party to leave the injured person to the mercy of their finding home. But the captain of the group does this by offering the couple of persons, who is going to stay with the barely alive Glass, a good sum of money, if ever they make it to civilization. Fitzgerald, offering to help, kills Hawk, when he stops his father’s death. Glass becomes the witness to his son’s death and when Fitzgerald manages to take the other well intended trapper boy on his side leaving Glass in a grave, he doesn’t know that the stubborn spirit of Glass is going to overcome all the odds of his physical and mental depressions for vengeance.

                Now, the real Glass didn’t have a son. And he didn’t kill Fitzgerald in the end. Innaritu uses this son prop to get the emotional meaning in his revenge. As much as the director plans to make this an action packed vengeance movie, the way he depicts the cruel realities of gone times, makes it a memorable classic. The manner in which glass cauterises his leaking food gullet to feed himself properly is just a single moment of harshness out of many. Glass doesn’t mind eating the raw liver of a bison, when hunger, with biting cold needles his existence. He slides in to the carcass of a horse’s for warmth. He is subject to a harsh native therapy for his injuries. These are the many impediments he undergoes to make it back to his son’s murderer. The point that sometimes it’s your goal that gives you that extra breath is manifested in Glass’s insistence to live. The man really made it back to his home. Innaritu exemplifies how much we are dependent on each other to survive. As scenic as the pristine nature is, it takes a toll on us as much as it gives. The native American, who offers him the beast’s liver, is that warm hand of friendship which we are so blind to. Race and ethnicity has been an excuse for humans to wage wars, but nature teaches in its disasters for them to unite. Innaritu showcases this point in the savage’s taking care of the invalid. The lynching of the same savage is the way humanity is responding to its few do-gooders.

                DiCaprio as usual feels his role running through the every fibre of his being. He clearly shows the frustration of protecting his kin, who is of different race. He tries to do it by his silence. As a physically tortured man, he had endured the real deal, not the wounds but the harsh climes. Tom Hardy, as a villain, sometimes convinces us with his reasoning. With his scar on the scalp which makes him look alopecic, he is that selfish trait which is so profound in the world now.

                When I watched birdman, I wasn’t really convinced by Innaritu’s talents. I didn’t consider that the single trick of collaging the whole movie into a single shot can be a showcase of his talent. Surely the cinematographer did a brilliant job with the camera in an uncut manner moving it so skilfully through the stages, alleys, movie sets, green rooms, theatre halls, lobbies, rooftops and even on pavements. But I was not intrigued by the issues that happen in an aged actor’s head. There were some reality bites into the frailties of old age and the fact that everyone is fragile unlike the superheroes they depict. But probably my problem was that it wasn’t like a movie.

Making a complete changeover, he relates the story of a fur trapper with that of any one of us in making us realize what life is really like behind all the creature comforts. Man has walked a long way in making himself sit luxuriously before the computer and write a review while sipping tea. But the path he took was as cruelly instructive as it has been experimentally frustrating. ‘Revenant’ tells this with flawless beauty, reverberating beating of the drums (terrific sound feel) and vibrant visions. Never had been watching a movie, such a visceral experience for me. The chillness which I felt could have been from the cold Alaskan weathers rather than the air conditioning in the theatre. It is tough to discern when you are engaged so well.