REVIEW: The Revenant

Have you ever had an experience in the cold where you get inside, cozy up in warm, fuzzy clothes, cuddle a hot beverage and are just unable to get the chill out of your body?  I have, and I hate those days.  I always wonder exactly why that happens sometimes and not others.  What is really interesting is when I get that feeling and have not actually been exposed to the cold.  That has only happened once in my life, and it has been going on for a few days now.  Well, not exactly that feeling, but very close to it.

Watching The Revenant the other day was a very physical experience for me.  It was not because I was constantly getting out of my seat and going to the washroom because of the length of the film (although I did have to do that once), or because I was tossing and turning in my seat over boredom.  It was because this movie, due to its directing, cinematography, locations, and acting made me feel the brutal, harsh elements that surround the tail.

The story is one of survival and revenge as we follow Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) after he is left for dead by John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) after Glass is savagely attacked by a bear.  He must overcome the brutal injuries and the frigid weather of the mountains to track down Fitzgerald and face him.  The plot is a very simplistic one, but simplicity can be a very beautiful thing.

Watching DiCaprio as he portrays Glass gives us a visual of an actor who is unflinching and willing to do what it takes to immerse themselves into a role.  I cannot imagine what it would have been like for him as the movie was filming, and I am sure he must have gotten hypothermia at one point or another.  His dedication to dragging himself across the snow with bare hands and submerging his body in icy water is what helps lead to the audience feeling the intensity of the cold that he is battling.

The other element that elevates the feelings and emotions of the environment is the never more beautiful cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki.  He is an icon with an ability to shoot extended sequences, and in this movie I tried to count them but lost the ability after around half an hour.  By that time there had been too many and I was too drawn into what I was watching to even care.  Having these extended sequences with few cuts takes away the fabricated feeling that can exist with most movies.  We know that we are seeing DiCaprio standing in water for multiple minutes at a time, knowing that there were no cuts that allowed him to get out of the water and warm up before shooting some more.  It is the power of these sequences that tell our subconscious brains that there is actual life happening before our eyes and not a mashed together fictional tale.

It is that deception that Lubezki is able to provide along with the work of director Alejandro Inarritu (who had both teamed up on last year's Birdman) that makes the movie so powerful.  Be it a simple script of revenge, it is a story that we feel like we are experiencing for ourselves.  The shots are magnificent and engage us in the physical pains of the characters on the screen.  The pacing may drag a little, and the length did feel a bit indulgent, but it was not enough to keep me from reliving the horrible feelings of desperation and frostbite that were forged throughout.

Rating - 4 out of 4 stars