El renacido (The Revenant)

A favorite era of mine for film stories has always been the mountain man era in the American west. No white people in great numbers, just single shot weapons, they were the ones outnumbered so survival against the Indians was far more an even struggle than in the post Civil War west. The Revenant by dint of its many nominations has laid claim to being the greatest film about that era ever made. It goes up against such items as Across The Wide Missouri, The Big Sky, and Mountain Men, Jeremiah Johnson all pretty good films.

It would have been hard to deny Leonardo DiCaprio a Best Actor Oscar this time around. He's on screen for most of the time and with minimal dialog DiCaprio has to use facial expressions and body language to convey his emotions. He does it well and should share his Oscar with the cameraman who did all those closeups of him.

The plot is best compared to another mountain man picture A Man Called Horse that starred Richard Harris. DiCaprio who was guide to the expedition of fur trappers is badly mauled by a grizzly bear and is after being toted for quite a distance is abandoned by Tom Hardy who claims he died. DiCaprio just wants to settle the score. Unlike Richard Harris he does not find a friendly tribe of Indians to take him in. His survival is his personal story.

The Revenant also won the Cinematography Oscar for the shooting of the rugged winter country these men are in. It's so good the landscape, cold and forbidding, becomes almost a character in the film.

Like The Old Man And The Sea was for Spencer Tracy The Revenant is a personal film for Leonardo DiCaprio. Unlike Tracy who had that magnificent speaking voice for the narration, no narration here. Just anguished expressions convey what DiCaprio is feeling.

Leo got his Oscar and it was a deserved one for The Revenant. It's a great film, but very brutal at times.

The natural landscape and some of the scenes are overwhelming and spectacular! The camera-work is so immersive, you believe are a part of Hugh Glass' journey through the wilderness and back to civilization. Also with great performances not only by DiCaprio, but also Hardy, as the unsympathetic fellow fur trapper leaving Glass behind.

Story-wise, it is a bit thin for a 156 min picture. Glass' quest for vengeance is sometimes lost as he utters few words about his drive and is being more or less, chased himself. The story arc of the Indians quest for their daughter felt a bit out of place and strange. We also get to see the fur trappers p.o.v. that left Glass behind and the Captain way ahead of them. Which in my opinion takes a little bit of the magic of Glass' total perilous journey.

All my stars goes to the beauty, production value and performances alone! Regardless, this is one of those overlong movies one like, but would not sit out for another viewing!

"The Revenant" is probably the most beautiful movie I have seen for a long time. This is not only due to the incredible locations, but also to the excellent (and by excellent I mean excellent) camera-work. Frequently I was just blown away by the sheer beauty of the rough terrain of Canada and how it was captured by the crew. However, there are a few drawbacks. Mainly the story (it is a very simple revenge story line) and the dialog (it is basically not existent :D).

When I first left the movie I was still blown away by all the great things I mentioned above (I was thinking about a 10/10 rating), but the longer I was outside the movie the more I recognized that "The Revenant" is a film that is incredible entertaining whilst sitting in the cinema, but also a movie I quickly forgot about when being at home again.

Still, the movie is definitely a must-see. Your money is well invested!

The Revenant falls into the same category as Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" and Spielberg's "Schindler's List" for me, in the essence of being a terrific movie but not something I think I can sit through a second time. In all these movies there are brutal sequences that cause emotional stress and disgust just watching because it is so REAL and GRIPPING. To think that events in these movies actually happened or that they could very well happen is too much for me to think about. Not to say that I did not enjoy this film thoroughly.

The Revenant is a technical masterpiece that left me wondering "How the hell did they do that?" after many scenes and sequences. With beautiful cinematography and adroit camera movement this film is a visual magnum opus. It is apparent that the great minds that put forth this film are none other than the same ones that brought us Birdman: Lubezki and Inarritu. There are many long shots without cuts that are sprinkled throughout the film that add a sense of sophistication to it with the added bonus of predominantly location based shooting and natural lighting for the film , that can even make a novice film watcher raise an eyebrow at its complexity.

The camera work is not the only noteworthy aspect of the film; The actors did a superb job executing their rolls. Many are raving about DiCaprio's performance but I was more of a fan of Hardy's brutal and gritty character Fitzgerald. Granted, half the words that came out of his mouth were unintelligible but he left no doubt in my mind that he was fully devoted to his role and bringing Fitzgerald alive instead of just Hardy playing a character named Fitzgerald. He was simply amazing.

With all this said, there are still flaws in the film. At some points it was dragging on and moving too slow. It gave the impression that the film itself was cocky and wanted to show off all of its beautiful scenery and camera work too much. Then there was the "he shouldn't be alive" situations. Hugh Glass was a real guy that really did survive a bear mauling but in the film they make this guy practically immortal. There were too many instances where I was thinking "he should be dead three times over right now, for me to enjoy the film as much I should have.

All in all a great film that I only recommend to seasoned and mature film viewers.

In a cold and bitter land the pelts are gathered, in these times and in this place it's quite a hazard, as the indigenous attack, many find arrows front and back, as they seek to find a daughter who's been taken. An escape leads to a boat and then a hike, where Hugh Glass becomes the victim of a strike, from a rather angry bear, who pokes, prods, rips, shears and tears, leaves him motionless and looking quite deathlike.

And so begins a tale of revenge and retribution, of persecution and those with an incredible constitution, in conditions as bleak as any opposing restitution. Great performances all round, especially the two adversaries, from a great director who can spin a yarn, through cinematography that really captures your imagination, and leaves you grateful for the home comforts you have today.