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Will you please give Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar now? The star spent a night sleeping in an animal carcass, jumped in and out of icy rivers and even ate raw bison liver to make everything look authentic in this movie. What else does he have to do to prove his merit?
Fans thought he might pick up the coveted award for his moving portrayal in Blood Diamond or when he captivated in The Wolf of Wall Street. They especially thought he would win when he continued acting, undeterred, even after accidentally slashing his hand during a scene in Django Unchained. Sadly, Hollywood royalty snubbed him at every turn … five nominations to be exact ... but, surely, not this time?
News of his intense and evocative acting in The Revenant has already gone viral, leading many movie critics convinced that he is a ‘shoo-in’ for an Oscar and should start dusting off a place on his mantelpiece to finally display the golden trophy which this movie reviewer thinks he so rightly deserves.
And picking up ‘best actor in a drama motion picture’ at this week’s Golden Globes should help matters too!
DiCaprio was a force of nature in this epic survival-adventure-thriller which was inspired by true events endured by frontiersman and fur-trapper Hugh Glass in the early 1800s. It’s well worth noting that this movie was also inspired by Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant which tells the tale of Glass.
Although the script was slightly fictionalised, it was not far from the truth. If you hadn’t figured it out by now, DiCaprio plays the heroic explorer.
And, while he barely spoke in the movie, unless it was in a native language, his fierce facial expressions and body language said more than enough. As the saying goes, action speaks louder than words and, in this case, it truly did.
Without giving too much away and spoiling it for those that have not seen the film – which, by the way, you really should go and see today – Glass and his party of fur-trappers are attacked by the Arikara tribe while he and his half-native son were guiding them on a fur-trapping expedition through uncharted American wilderness.
Barely escaping with their lives and by the skin of their teeth, the 30-man expedition withered down to a measly 10, including Glass, his son, a ruthless psychopath called John Fitzgerald (Hardy), the good captain Andrew Henry (Gleeson) and young fur-trapping newbie, Jim Bridger (Poulter).
As they huddled in a boat, drifting down a freezing river, Glass advises that the men disembark and find their way back to HQ on foot as the tribe remains hot on their trail.
Making their way through chilly weather and waist deep in snow, Glass would venture ahead to make sure that the path was safe.
While out on his own, he comes face-to-face with the mother-of-all grizzly bears who then tears into him like a rag doll.
This bone-chilling scene can be unbearable to watch at times and I found myself screaming as the beast flung him from side-to-side, bit into him, stomped on him and ripped into his skin.
I begged the beast to stop and thought surely the character was dead. But, then I saw him breathe, well barely, and remembered those words he spoke at the beginning of the movie to his son: “As long as you draw breath, you fight.”
And fight he does … and not only the bear.
Glass survives his ordeal and comes out full of rage, anger and hate with more than a little bit of vengeance in his heart after the dastardly actions of one particular man.
Hardy also puts in a phenomenal performance in his villainous role, so much so that I kind of still hate him even now whilst I’m penning this review.
Credit also has to go to the brilliant direction of Alejandro G Iñárritu who made this masterpiece a reality. Apparently, his crew hated him at times because they were filming in sub-zero conditions.
Iñárritu wanted to shoot the film in sequence using only natural light and it was worth it. Kudos also to the amazing cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who made every scene look like a work of art.
Their efforts did not go in vain as the movie collected the Golden Globe award for best drama picture and Iñárritu received the best director of a motion picture accolade.
Oscars here they come!
Showing at Cineco, Seef II, Saar, Al Jazira, Novo Cinemas, Dana Cineplex
Rating: 5/5
