As I left the cinema after watching The Revenant, I was quite literally lost for words, as was my dad, who watched it with me. We were both silent as we walked to the car, at which point he turned to me and said, “Well, that was worth seeing”. We had both taken several minutes to digest what we had just witnessed, and yet could not accurately communicate our opinions on the film. Eventually, we reached the conclusion that it fully deserved its Oscar and BAFTA success, and yet there was something deeply unsatisfying about it. However, I concluded, that might have been the whole point of the film.
From the very start, it was clear that I was witnessing a visual masterpiece, and this first impression was confirmed many times throughout the film. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel) uses the sharp contrast of fire against the night sky, blood against snow and the Northern Lights against bleak, empty landscapes to the best possible effect - the end result being an absolutely beautiful couple of hours of film. Iñárritu has told the press that he insisted on using as few post-production effects as possible to make the film seem more realistic. While I certainly don’t envy the cast and crew who had to spend weeks in the Argentinian wilderness in order to film with real snow and in natural light, it certainly lends an authentic feel.
One scene in particular comes to mind, in which a group of hunters have to drag a fallen comrade up the face of a mountain in the midst of a snowstorm. To me it stood out as one of the film’s best scenes, largely because the feeling of seeing the group struggle up the mountain seemed very real, and if it had been filmed in circumstances that were any less authentic, I feel it would have lost most of its impact.
The camerawork, one of The Revenant’s greatest strengths, certainly deserves a mention. The camera subtly rotates and moves around the actors, even in some of the most intense scenes, once again adding to the immersion of the film as a whole. This combined with the stellar work from the many make-up artists to make Leonardo DiCaprio look like (in his own words) “a living zombie”, and a gruesomely intimate experience.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of protagonist Hugh Glass is certainly one of his best to date, and worthy of his Oscar. His performance was compelling throughout and he conveyed the character’s pain and torment brilliantly and convincingly. In fact, there is something to be said for the fact that he delivered one of the past year’s strongest performances in a role in which he had so few lines. Indeed, there were some scenes in which I struggled to believe he was not in actual pain or that he was genuinely not suffering the same injuries and hardships that his character experiences. Most of this can be attributed to his raw talent as an actor, however his dedication to the role was astounding – it has been reported that in the scenes in which Glass is eating meat, DiCaprio, in an effort to make his reactions more genuine, was actually eating this raw meat and fish. Perhaps this is a testament to how far he is willing to go to get into character – or perhaps to win an Oscar.
There is very little fault to be found with the supporting cast – Tom Hardy delivers a superb and chilling performance as Fitzgerald, the film’s unhinged antagonist, meanwhile BAFTA Rising Star winner Will Poulter yet again gives a very convincing performance. Although the rest of the supporting cast were largely excellent, The Revenant is mostly a solo performance, and DiCaprio made the role his own.
I find it very difficult to voice my criticisms of The Revenant. I can’t quite pinpoint any aspect of the film that I didn’t like or that I found to be lacking, and yet the film as a whole seems slightly unsatisfying. At first I thought it was the length of the film – around-two-and-a-half hours, it feels like it could have done a lot more during that time; as my dad quite eloquently put it, it was “quite a lot of grunting and snow”. While this was also my initial opinion, I couldn’t help but wonder – was this the point? By making the bulk of the film feel so laboured, as Glass’ journey certainly was, the climax of the film feels all the more rewarding. However, I still can’t help but feel that something more ambitious could have been done with the actual events of the film, rather than just the camerawork and make-up.
However, there is one criticism that, however minor, seems quite clear in my mind. The film is based loosely on a true story, and whilst the interpretation seems within the realms of reality, without giving too much away there were some scenes that found me questioning whether Iñárritu should have strayed so far from the subject matter, and those scenes were the few that broke the immersion that the film’s cast and crew have endeavoured to create.
Overall, though, The Revenant is, without a doubt, an absolute masterstroke of a film. Beautifully directed, acted and supported by a subtle yet effective soundtrack, it is marred only by a slight overall lack of impact. However, I would highly recommend it to anyone willing to endure the marathon of disturbing experiences it puts the audience through.