In Review: "The Revenant"

“The Revenant” hit theaters Dec. 25, receiving generally positive reviews from many professionals. Based on a true story, the movie followed the survival and revenge of Hugh Glass, portrayed by the renowned actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Opening the film with a tranquil setting, in the snowy wilderness of the 1823 Western America, Hugh Glass and his fur trading group are ambushed by a native tribe and forced onto the river. The survivors try to make their way back to camp, until Glass is mauled to near-death by a bear in a high-intensity, several minute scene. The ensuing story consists of Glass’s abandonment and slow recovery, crawling his way through the deadly wilderness. Having witnessed the death of his son at the hands of a former ally, he swears revenge, experiencing extreme pain to survive and keep moving. Overlooking the fantastic views of the untouched winter land, the film is visually stunning, yet grotesquely portrays the necessities for survival.The film could easily be seen as terrible from one point of view and amazing from another. Easily the grittiest film of 2015, “The Revenant” wasted no time censoring itself for audiences. The extreme detail of visible wounds and intense survival scenes definitely did involve blood and other violent imagery. In beautiful contrast though, the film’s cinematography was unlike any other, with serene shots of the untouched American wilderness throughout the entire movie. To add to the visual stimulation, a very unique orchestral soundtrack expressed, along with the beautiful scenery, how contrasting nature is--attractive and peaceful yet deadly. Despite the intensity of the film, there was little dialogue other than (a lot of) grunting and moaning. DiCaprio spends a long part of the film crawling, and his injuries were so realistic that viewers could almost feel them themselves. The story itself was fantastic in its own, portraying the barbarity of humanity at its core in a true tale from the 1800’s.In addition, Leonardo DiCaprio went above and beyond for his acting role. Not only did he portray the struggles of Hugh Glass’s survival quite well, he did not use stunt doubles for many scenes. These scenes include Glass being carried down a river in the winter, jumping off a cliff into a tree, and eating a REAL bison heart. If that isn’t pushing the limits of submerging one’s self into a film role, then I don’t know what is.The film definitely succeeded in its intentions of displaying a remarkable story with equally masterful cinematography and acting. Whether a film with such grit and reality is too intense or not is up to the individual, and therefore is up to viewer’s interpretation.