(With apologies to Heather)
I started out watching for signs of the movie change-over from our month-long run of Star Wars las Saturday. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday(my computer was down), Wednesday- “Revenant” was up on the marquee and my reaction was “yahoo”. This movie is magnificent. Inarritu has done it again!
I’ll admit to a little misconstruction about the title “The Revenant” – from the announced storyline I thought the word was connected to the idea of “revenge” or “vengeance”… and this from someone who prides himself on his way with language. It wasn’t until I came to write this piece that I looked up the word and came across the meanings:
1. a person who returns
2. a person who returns as a spirit after death: ghost
and these meanings are so fitting for this story. It is based on Michael Punke’s 2002 novel of the same name which takes its inspiration from the real-life trapper and frontiersman Hugh Glass. There is a copy of the book in the Nelson Library if you are interested.
I feel that director Inarritu is first and foremost a storyteller and collaterally a cinematic force of nature.Alejandro González Iñárritu I was first drawn to his work by 2006’s “Babel” and then went back to watch the two earlier films in his trilogy “Amor Perros” and “21 Grams”. I was blown away by his almost “baroque” style of storytelling – weaving three storylines together like a fugue. In all of his films, the emotion depicted and evoked is visceral and compelling. I commend all of his earlier films – the “Amor Perros” trilogy, 2010:s “Biutiful” with the great Javier Bardem , and last year’s “Birdman” for your viewing if you haven’t already seen them.
Before this film’s theatrical release there was some Twittering and tittering about DiCaprio’s story-precipitating encounter with his four-legged antagonist. In my view this was silly and a disrespect to both the film and the actor.
This film has to be seen on the big screen – the settings and the cinematography are magnificent. Parts of the movie were filmed in British Columbia and Alberta. It is noteworthy in seeing Inarritu go from some of the claustrophobic camerawork in the theatre in “Birdman” to the very expansive settings of this film.
Most of you should know what transpired at the Golden Globes Sunday night. In the preceding two weeks I encountered two clips on CBC Radio devoted to this film – Sheryl McKay interviewed Vancouver actor and stunt performer Duane E. Howard who played Elk Dog in the film on Sat. Jan. 9″s “North by Northwest”. As well there was an interview with a Vancouver Island small-businessman who supplied the bear fur coat worn by DiCaprio in the film (for which I can’t supply a link, sorry).
Jesse Wente , a writer on CBC has opened an opinion piece on the film with the words “It is an American fable that uses First Nations characters to support its allegorical content and one that never escapes the colonial gaze of the western genre.” I feel this is pontificating of the highest order. Watch the film for yourself and decide whether or not this is a deeply personal narrative depicted by Inarritu and DiCaprio.www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/the-revenant-
I won’t dwell on aspects of the film that Heather has covered more succinctly and capably than I can. After three years I still haven’t developed a refined blogging style – I just opine and blurt out my pieces…
One really has to be in awe of the efforts Inarritu made in assembling this film – taking his cast and crew out in the REAL cold and eschewing CGI for even the most daunting scenes. The central character has so few word of dialogue that you attention may be easily drawn away to his surroundings. I urge you to focus on DiCaprio as this is a tour-de-force performance by him and I personally believe it is the storyteller/director’s intent to relate/depict Glass’s story on the most personal level.
LINKS
imdb.com/title/tt1663202
thestar.com>Entertainment>Movies>TheRevenant
rottentomatoes.com/m/the_revenant_2015
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revenant_(2015_film)
movieweb.com/movie/the-revenant-2015
metacritic.com/movie/the-revenant
time.com/4171001/revennt-1939-true-story