The Revenant » J-Movies

The Revenant is a 2015 American Western action drama film^[5] directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The screenplay by Mark L. Smith and Iñárritu is based in part on Michael Punke‘s 2002 novel The Revenant, which describes frontiersman Hugh Glass‘s experiences in 1823, and which is based on the 1915 poem The Song of Hugh Glass. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.^[6]

In August 2001, Akiva Goldsman purchased Punke’s manuscript. Iñárritu signed on to direct The Revenant in August 2011; in April 2014, after several delays due to other projects, Iñárritu confirmed that he was beginning work on it and that DiCaprio had the lead role. Principal photography began in October 2014. Location and crew concerns delayed production from May to August 2015.

The Revenant premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California on December 16, 2015. It had a limited release on December 25 and a wide release on January 8, 2016. It was a blockbuster, grossing $533 million worldwide. It received positive reviews, with praise for the performances, particularly for DiCaprio and Hardy, Iñárritu’s direction, and Lubezki’s cinematography; however, some criticism went to its runtime.^[7][8][9]

It won three Golden Globe Awards and five BAFTA Awards, including Best Film at both ceremonies. At the 88th Academy Awards, the film received 12 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Hardy). It won the Academy Awards for Best Director (Iñárritu, his second consecutive in that category), Best Actor (DiCaprio, his first after 5 previous nominations), and Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki, his third consecutive in that category). DiCaprio also won the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor.

The Revenant Plot

In late 1823, fur trapper Hugh Glass guides Captain Andrew Henry‘s trappers through the territory of the present-day Dakotas. While he and his half-Pawnee son, Hawk, are hunting, the company’s camp is attacked by an Arikara war party which is seeking to recover its chief’s abducted daughter, Powaqa. Many of the trappers are killed during the fight, and the rest of them escape onto a boat. Guided by Glass, the survivors begin a trek to Fort Kiowa on foot because Glass believes that traveling downriver will make them vulnerable. After docking, the crew stash their pelts near the shore.

While he is scouting game, Glass is mauled and left near death by a female grizzly bear which is guarding its cubs. Trapper John Fitzgerald, fearing another Arikara attack, argues that the group must mercy-kill Glass and keep moving. Henry agrees, but he is unable to pull the trigger. Instead, he offers money in order to pay someone to stay with Glass and bury him after he dies. When the only volunteers are Hawk and the young Jim Bridger, Fitzgerald agrees to stay for money, in order to recoup his losses from the abandoned pelts.

After the others leave, Fitzgerald attempts to smother Glass but is stopped by Glass’s son Hawk, who intervenes. Hawk threatens to shoot Fitzgerald and shouts for Bridger, who is away gathering water so Fitzgerald stabs Hawk to death as Glass watches helplessly. The next morning, Fitzgerald convinces Bridger who is unaware of Hawk’s murder that the Arikara are approaching and they must abandon Glass. At first, Bridger protests, but he ultimately follows Fitzgerald after the latter leaves Glass half-buried alive in a makeshift grave. Bridger leaves his canteen with Glass, on which he had engraved a spiral symbol. After they depart, Fitzgerald admits that he lied about the approaching Arikara. When Fitzgerald and Bridger later meet Henry at the fort, Fitzgerald tells Henry that Glass died and Hawk vanished. Bridger is complicit in the lie about Glass’s death, but he knows nothing about Hawk’s murder.

Regaining some strength, Glass begins his arduous journey through the wilderness. (The meaning of the word “revenant” is a person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.) Glass performs a crude cauterization of his wounds and eludes the pursuing Arikara by jumping into river rapids. He later encounters Pawnee refugee Hikuc, who says that “revenge is in the Creator’s hands.” The men share bison meat and travel together. As a storm approaches, Hikuc constructs a makeshift sweat lodge for the feverish Glass to shelter in. After a hallucinogenic experience in the lodge, Glass emerges to discover that his wounds are healing, but French hunters have lynched Hikuc. He infiltrates their camp and sees the leader raping Powaqa. Glass frees her, and while she castrates her rapist, he kills several hunters, and recovers Hikuc’s horse. The following day, Glass is ambushed and driven over a cliff on his horse by the Arikara. He survives the stormy night by eviscerating the dead horse and sheltering inside its carcass.

A frightened French survivor staggers into Fort Kiowa, and Bridger recognizes the spiral engraved canteen as Glass’s. Believing that it might be a surviving Hawk, Henry organizes a search party. Realizing that Glass is alive, Fitzgerald empties the outpost’s safe and flees. The search party finds the exhausted Glass. Furious, Henry orders the arrest of Bridger, but Glass vouches for Bridger by stating that he was not present when Fitzgerald murdered his son, and Bridger was later deceived and threatened by the higher-ranking Fitzgerald. Glass and Henry set out in pursuit of Fitzgerald.

After the two men split up, Fitzgerald ambushes, kills, and scalps Henry. Glass finds Henry’s corpse, places it on his horse in an attempt to act as a decoy, and shoots Fitzgerald in the shoulder. He pursues Fitzgerald to a riverbank, where they engage in a brutal fight. Glass is about to kill Fitzgerald, but he spots a band of Arikara downstream. He remembers Hikuc’s words and pushes Fitzgerald downstream into the hands of the Arikara. Their chief, Elk Dog, kills and scalps Fitzgerald, and the Arikara (who have found Powaqa) spare Glass. Glass retreats into the mountains, where he is visited by his wife’s spirit.

Cast OF The Revenant

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