Film Analysis: The Revenant

The Revenant is a splendid and inspiring story that does not give a minute to withdraw eyes while the film is playing. This movie presents drastically new meaning to man-versus-nature drama, to a greater extent, because of the brilliant acting performance of Leonardo DiCaprio. The Revenant was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu who, after the majestic success of Birdman in 2014 found an inspiration in the less civilized area, specifically, North America of the 1820s. The shooting took place in rough, freezing conditions and, what is more, most productions shoot for twelve hours a day minimum. Iñárritu and director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki were forced to shoot in a more fractured manner due to the creative choices made, notably shooting

As for me, it is impossible to imagine a more powerful acting performance. With no doubts, DiCaprio proved that he is a talented actor long ago, ever since his teen roles. His Hugh Glass is a man of few words. During the movie, actor utters only a few replicas, but that is where a major professional challenge lies. DiCaprio brilliantly handles the needed tasks - he spits blood, he eats raw fish and liver, he sleeps in the carcass of a horse, he kills, steals, runs, and all this is performed at the highest acting level. Glass managed to represent so many things, and while he is mostly alone on his journey, he is often hampered by circumstances and paired against characters that touch on a measure of recurring themes and conflicts (“The Revenant Ending And How It Differs From History | Page 3”). Brilliant Tom Hardy played a role of John Fitzgerald, who was not just a villain but also a vile murderer of the Hugh’s son. Will Poulter played a role of boyish Jim Bridger, who was deceived by Fitzgerald and left Glass in the grave, was definitely too young for such kind of expeditions. To add, there was an equitable and brave Andrew Henry, played by Domhnall Gleeson - noble and purposeful leader of the group. However, these ones are only the most visible characters, and yet there are plenty of hunters and Indians who quickly erased the glamorous image of the Wild West. It can be said that America in The Revenant is a sort of a purgatory,

I chose this movie because it is a great film that has the power to convey the unimaginable. This is a movie that can make the viewer not only to watch it, but to experience every moment of it. Probably, it is not kind of the film that makes one want to start one’s life all over, but definitely transports the viewer to another time and place, while always maintaining its worth as a piece of visual art.

I looked up some information about The Revenant. From The Telegraph article I learned that Iñárritu’s decision to film in the remote wilds of Alberta, Canada, brought a number of challenges. With no cellphone signal, the production relied on messages relayed by snowmobiles. However, the real enemy for DiCaprio and the cast was the cold, with temperatures rarely making it above -30C. For a river-set scene in which the fleeing expeditionary party comes under attack from Native Americans, he had to dive into the freezing river repeatedly. Likewise, I found out that to recreate Glass’s wounds and deteriorating physical condition, the make-up department covered DiCaprio in forty-seven separate prosthetic pieces, the fitting of which had the actor rising at 3 a.m. for a four-to-five-hour make-up session every day before a two-hour drive along unpaved tracks to the film’s remote location. As it was mentioned above, DiCaprio had to eat raw liver notwithstanding that he has been a vegetarian since 1992 (“Why Was The Revenant