Review: The Film, The Revenant…

If there’s any important life lesson I’ve learned over the years, it’s “Don’t stand between a mama bear and her cubs.” When I say stand between, I mean directly in the line of sight. Luckily, I learned this lesson from afar. About thirty years ago, during a holiday weekend at my friend's vacation home in the Pocono Mountains, I witnessed this lesson from the safety of a second-floor balcony about two hundred yards away. The vacation house was in the woods amongst scattered golf lands. Two golfers exited their golf cart and walked to where they would play, but one stopped short. The other went on, heard a roar, and immediately stepped back—he was literally standing between a mama bear and her cubs. Apparently he learned this lesson too, sans scars.

In The Revenant (2015), the protagonist, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed), fails to abide by this lesson as well. In an early scene, he spots bear cubs, does absolutely nothing—he should have immediately looked for their mother—and instantly gets mauled by the mama bear. The scene is brilliantly visceral. Auteur Alexander Iñárritu (Babel) used practical stunt choreography, physical blue-suit performers, complex prosthetics, and CGI technology to achieve the immediacy of this scene. 

The film itself is about Glass’s survival trek after the attack, but there’s more to it. In the early 19th Century in the Dakota wilderness, a group of fur-trappers scours the woods to collect pelts. In search of the chief’s daughter who is believed to be kidnapped by white men, a group of Arikara Natives attacks this fur-trapping party. Several men down, the party scrambles to survive and escape. Away from the party, Glass is mauled by a bear and soon betrayed and left for dead by fellow trapper and scalping survivor John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy, Mad Max: Thunder Road), who also murders his son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck, Dark Winds). 

Themes in this film include “Rebirth and Resurrection,” “Revenge vs. Forgiveness,” “Man vs. Nature,“ “Fatherly Love and Loss,” and “Spiritual Rebirth.” Iñárritu uses motifs to masterfully illustrate these themes. The term revenant refers to an individual who comes back from the dead. Glass emerges from a shallow grave, crawling out from the warm body of a dead horse, symbolizing a womb-like rebirth, and stumbles ahead. These moments reflect themes of baptism and resurrection, both physically and spiritually. At the very moment when Glass can get his revenge on Fitzgerald, he lets him go, saying, “Revenge is in God’s hands. Not mine.” Nature is depicted not solely as a hindrance, but as an impartial, purifying force that ultimately enforces justice rather than human revenge. The memory of Glass's deceased son, Hawk, along with his late Pawnee wife, fuels his perseverance, transforming parental grief and love into the emotional core of his journey. 

DiCaprio won a deserved Academy Award for his portrayal of Hugh Glass. He delivers a powerful and physically demanding performance with minimal spoken lines, braving harsh freezing temperatures and executing challenging scenes such as consuming raw bison liver. Hardy's unrefined and morally intricate depiction of a survivalist motivated by greed and fear garnered him a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination. Domhnall Gleeson’s (The American Revolution) portrayal of Captain Andrew Henry, the leader of the fur-trapping expedition, strikes a delicate balance between tenuous authority and urgent survival, depicting a leader who gradually loses grip on his troops in the face of harsh wilderness challenges. Will Poulter gives a poignant and morally complex supporting performance as Jim Bridger, the young fur trapper who is coerced and deeply affected into forsaking Glass. Even as a newcomer among seasoned actors, Goodluck’s quiet intensity and crucial tragic storyline provided the emotional foundation that propels Glass's journey for survival and vengeance.

Criticisms of the film note its excessive runtime and pacing. The lengthy 2.5-hour runtime appears inflated, causing the narrative pace to come to a halt after the harrowing initial sequences, as Hugh Glass struggles to drag himself through the snow. Critics contend that the film emphasizes a visceral, dark atmosphere and stunning tracking shots at the expense of authentic character development and narrative richness. Yeah no—they are so wrong. The true events that served as the inspiration for the film took place in the summer of 1823 in South Dakota, devoid of a revenge-driven narrative, a slain son, or a frigid winter backdrop. In reality, Glass chose to forgive the men who abandoned him. 

In conclusion, this is one of those films you only need to see once to receive its impact. I highly recommend it, although the squeamish may want to liberally press the skip button. And remember to stay out of the way of a mama bear and her cubs.