Saw "The Revenant" (Movie Review-Vanity)

GPH | 1/17/2016 | GPH

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Saw The Revenant the other day with a good friend of mine. I can't say I've ever seen a movie that was filmed as beautifully as this one. The visuals and shots were simply amazing, and the style was very dream-like. In fact, the protagonist often had very vivid and bizarre dreams, but "reality" itself was also very odd and surreal in the way it was filmed. You sort of get the feeling that there is a spiritual undercurrent that you get a sense of in how the scenes were shot, and that is indeed a theme in the film's plot.

Story-wise, I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie before, although with variations. It's a standard western-revenge flick. Of course, there is the usual "we raped the indians and stole from them" theme that we're all used to. Leonardo, however, did a great job with what he had. I also enjoyed the use of indian language, and the movie didn't whitewash Indians entirely. At one point, another Indian notes that his family had been killed by the Sioux, but he chose to "leave revenge to the heavens." Although the plot isn't very original, you honestly did not know how things would turn out in the end. The movie makes you feel that Leonardo can fail at his mission at any time. You don't feel he is an invincible character (or at least I didn't) even though the amount of abuse this guy takes would have wrecked a T-1000 Terminator.

The violence was EXTREME. There is a rape scene. The famous Grizzly bear attack was not a bear on man rape (it was obviously a female bear in the first place), but was extremely brutal. There are some shots put in just for shock value, such as a man missing a leg and crawling around during an indian raid. In other cases, people get their fingers cut off, arrows through their face, and suffer many other horrible injuries. I will hand it to the director though, as he really helps you get a sense of the terror of fighting against a large number of "savages" who can see you, and kill you at any time, but you can't see them at all.

Obviously the amount of punishment our protagonist takes is just unreal. But it's a movie, so don't worry about it too much.

All in all, as an experience, to see the filming itself, the way the shots are constructed, I would highly recommend this movie and rate it 10 out of 10. Considering the plot and other factors, I would rate it, maybe, 7 out of 10, but definitely better than anything else in theaters right now, and more original than Star Wars, even though I just got done telling you it's a movie we've all seen before. Yes, the ideas behind the film are nothing new, but it's done so well it feels like a real movie, not like one of the endless sequels or remakes we've been getting lately.

[dfwgator]

That was just a rumor somebody came up with at an early screening because the bear attack was so violent.

And many of us relished the thought of Leo DiCaprio getting raped by a bear.

[AlmaKing]

The violence was not overdone by any means. Though the story of Hugh glass was not portrayed factually accurately, I find that the violence of the time was. However, I don’t believe the rape story. I’ve read everything I can so far on the fur trapping Era, but have never heard of an incident written down where a native girl was taken as a sex slave.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

The REAL mad Trapper (Albert Johnson, not his real name) did not survive and there is a photo of him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Johnson_%28criminal%29

Three fictional movies were made about him, A British docudrama;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Trapper_%281972_film%29

One awful one aimed at kids, staring Mike Mazurki; shown over two weeks on TV;
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074299/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

And a good one with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. DEATH HUNT.

Both fictional movies show the trapper surviving.

I first heard about it in a story in either TRUE or ARGOSY magazine back in the late 1960s.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I read that some early buffalo hunters, back in the Flintlock days, would drill out the primer hole so when they poured powder into the barrel, they would spit an undersized ball, kept in the cheeks, into the bore, then hit the butt stock on the pommel of the saddle which would settle everything to the bottom and spill some of the powder into the priming pan, cock and fire. without having to stop the horse and reload.

Remington showed this in one of his paintings.

With my luck, the ball would lodge half way down and when fired blow up the rifle.

[Sawdring]

Thanks for that Wikipedia link, it was very interesting!

[jackibutterfly]

Thanks, guys. Like I said, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around that.

[ctdonath2]

In the book, she wasn’t a slave - more like someone who opted for a bad life (other options being worse).

[TruthWillWin]

Story-wise, I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie before, although with variations.

Did you see "Man in the Wilderness"? I saw it in 1971, the Revenant was almost like a remake of this 1971 movie.