The Revenant
29/01/16 Filed in: Cinema
Our cinema film this week was The Revenant. My choice and I'm pleased that we went to see it.
Set in 1823, in the unsettled wilderness of what now is the Dakotas, it's a brutal film depicting the lives of frontiersmen hunting for pelts. The local indians are hostile and the story effectively starts when a raiding party attacks the hunters. The effectiveness of the bow and arrows against single shot rifles and pistols is graphically displayed as the 'white men' are cut down, resorting to escape by boat as the indians overwhelm them.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, the group's guide, who is accompanied by his son, the product of a relationship with an indian woman who had previously been killed. John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) doesn't think a lot of Glass, especially when Glass insists that the group abandon their boat and take an overland return journey to the safety of the fort.
On the way Glass is savaged by a grizzly bear and seriously injured. After at first trying to stretcher Glass it is decided that the group should split, with the captain leading the returning group and Fitzgerald remaining with Glass and his son, along with the young Jim Bridger. It doesn't end well.
Set in 1823, in the unsettled wilderness of what now is the Dakotas, it's a brutal film depicting the lives of frontiersmen hunting for pelts. The local indians are hostile and the story effectively starts when a raiding party attacks the hunters. The effectiveness of the bow and arrows against single shot rifles and pistols is graphically displayed as the 'white men' are cut down, resorting to escape by boat as the indians overwhelm them.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, the group's guide, who is accompanied by his son, the product of a relationship with an indian woman who had previously been killed. John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) doesn't think a lot of Glass, especially when Glass insists that the group abandon their boat and take an overland return journey to the safety of the fort.
On the way Glass is savaged by a grizzly bear and seriously injured. After at first trying to stretcher Glass it is decided that the group should split, with the captain leading the returning group and Fitzgerald remaining with Glass and his son, along with the young Jim Bridger. It doesn't end well.
Glass is left to die but refuses to do so. Instead he almost miraculously manages to get back to the fort, at which point Fitzgerald, who has told lie upon lie in regard to what happened to Glass, makes a run for it. He is pursued by the captain and Glass, the denouement involving the hostile indians. An earlier good deed by Glass during his trek ensures that he survives, while Fitzgerald is left to defend himself.
This film reeks of realism. There is no computer-generated imagery and the film was shot entirely in natural light. It was shot in three countries, America, Canada and Argentina, the latter because Canada wasn't cold enough! DiCaprio is quoted as saying:
"I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly."
Indeed, in one sequence it does appear that he hand-catches a trout from the river and proceeds to eat it raw. And that river looked very very cold, with floating ice.
This is certainly a very special film and deserves to do well at the Oscars.
This film reeks of realism. There is no computer-generated imagery and the film was shot entirely in natural light. It was shot in three countries, America, Canada and Argentina, the latter because Canada wasn't cold enough! DiCaprio is quoted as saying:
"I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly."
Indeed, in one sequence it does appear that he hand-catches a trout from the river and proceeds to eat it raw. And that river looked very very cold, with floating ice.
This is certainly a very special film and deserves to do well at the Oscars.