Michael Punke – The United States of Nerd

There may be some slight spoilers in this review so read at your own risk!

Directed by: Alejandro Iñárritu

Screenplay by: Mark Smith, Alejandro Iñárritu

Based on the book by: Michael Punke

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter

Back in the 1820’s there was a lot of wild in the wilderness. This was found in the brutality of nature, and sometimes the cruelty of men. When a group of hunters were collecting pelts in the vast area of the Louisiana Purchase, they would need a guide and some protection.

In the movie, The Revenant, the guide was Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), who knew the area and could find a safe passage. He brought along his son, who was a half-breed from his dead Pawnee Indian wife. Glass was working with a hunting party led by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson).

Their camp is attacked by Native American Arikara warriors, looking for the chief’s daughter. Many men are killed, and the rest escape down a river on a rickety raft. Glass explains they must ditch the raft because it would attract more Indian attacks. They hide the remaining pelts and travel over land.

Glass is scouting the land ahead to find the best route, but he is mauled and nearly killed by a bear. Glass is gravely injured, and the rest of the group must carry him. Captain Henry decides to push forward back to a fort, and he leaves Glass with three watchful protectors.

His son Hawk stays, along with Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and Bridger (Will Poulter). Fitzgerald would rather see Glass dead than to babysit him, and he is upset at losing so many pelts in the Indian raid. He quietly plans to kill Glass and leave to get back to camp.

Hawk is killed by Fitzgerald, and Glass is almost dead and buried. Fitzgerald forces Bridger to leave, saying they are now alone and the Indians are coming to attack. Glass, in massive agony, pulls himself up and into moving, crawling, getting some distance between him and the natives who might come back and finish him off.

Fitzgerald gets a bonus payment for watching over Glass until he ‘died’, and for giving him a proper burial. Bridger will have none of it, and he knows that Fitzgerald is not being truthful. Glass has some close encounters with savages who chase after him and try to kill him. The Arikara hunters are also dealing with some underhanded French traders to sell stolen pelts.

Glass finds a lone Pawnee Indian warrior who is getting back to his tribe. They share raw bison meat and a horse ride until Glass is overcome with his wounds. The Pawnee constructs a makeshift sweat lodge to help Glass to heal. Days later, Glass finds that his path will no longer include his Pawnee friend, and that the chief’s daughter is being held by the French traders.

Glass frees the daughter and gets his horse again, but is pursued by the angry French. He finds a unique way to escape, a way that might be called the opposite of a cliffhanger. Again injured and alone at the bottom of the cliff, Glass goes full “Empire Strikes Back” and uses the dead horse in a new and unusual way.

Glass is finally found by the members of the camp, led by Captain Henry. They are all shocked to see Glass survived, but none more so than Fitzgerald. He sees a less than warm welcome back from Glass. So Fitz steals all the money from the camp and splits back to Texas.

Captain Henry is prepared to go alone to chase Fitzgerald, but Glass knows that he could track him better than anyone. Even being close to death would not stop him, He’s not afraid of dying, he says “I done it already”. The two of them go and pursue Fitzgerald and there is, again, more human cruelty and suffering to be found.

Iñárritu has created a beautiful, yet perfectly uneasy to view, panorama of Northwest Territory and human nastiness. The scenes of magnificent mountains and flowing streams, the dense forest and the barren tundra are matches with sweat and the blood of the characters. Fierce battles between tribes and hunters can happen right next to a gentle brook. A deadly one-on-one fight spills blood on the pure white snow and ice next to a river.

Leonardo DiCaprio becomes near-dead portrayal of Hugh Glass, full of nothing by survival instinct and the will for revenge. He has been nominated many times for Oscar for Best Actor, and he might have found his perfect role. It would be a shame if this performance is not so honored.

Also Tom hardy is outstanding as Fitzgerald. He captures the double-crossing, spiteful nature of the character with his easy speech and the dark intense darting of his eyes. His very nature is so loathsome that you might want that bear to pop out again and finish off Fitzgerald.

Possibly the candidate for Best Picture, at least. The intense moments are perfectly drawn out and the motion of the camera filming the sequence seems to follow what your eyes would normally look for. The way that many scenes are filmed are astonishing.

This was a terribly difficult film to make, it has been said. But what they did make is magnificent. It will be difficult for many people to watch, because of the content, and because of the length.