FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu - The Revenant

Watch fast, it only runs for a short time!

Really great films have the power to convey the unbelievable. While we sit comfortably on our couch, the protagonists have to endure torments and suffering that we can hardly understand. Too often, however, we see through this manipulation, because the actors do not fulfil their role. It seems made. Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritus The Revenant takes us back in time, but reserves the right to remain a work of art. We don't just see The Revenant, we experience the movie. We leave the cinema, are overwhelmed by the art of filmmaking that Iñárritu shows, but we are also grateful for our own comfort in life. Early on we become aware of what tone The Revenant strikes: We survive a Native American raid on a group of trappers. The natives are not presented as enemies, but as an intriguing force of nature. Arrows rush through the air, wounded flesh of the injured everywhere, the camera in the middle of the turmoil. We learn that the tribe is looking for the chief's kidnapped daughter and kills anyone who gets in his way. At the same moment we see that one of the trappers, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), has adopted a native son. The trapper leader, Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), orders the group to return to base. John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) contradicts because he wants to save his skins. The seed of discord is sown. Fitzgerald doesn't trust Henry or Glass. The highlight of the film: Glass is attacked and life-threateningly injured by a bear. I haven't seen such a frightening scene for a long time that made my heart beat so fast! It seems Glass can't make it back to base. With the natives in the back, the group decides to split up. Tell Fitzgerald to watch Glass and give him a proper burial. Together with Glass and his son he remains, accompanied by a young man, Bridger (Will Poulter), who admires Glass. Tell Fitzgerald to guard a man whose death he doesn't care about. He kills the adopted son and buries Glass alive. But Glass survives, almost as if he were standing up from the dead (this is what the film title The Revenant means). He thirsts for revenge, struggles with broken bones, without food through the snow, to get the man who killed his son. Basically, he is a spirit, unwilling to move to the other side before justice has been done. Cameraman Emmanuel Lubezki accompanies the painful journey by showing the inhuman conditions, but also his great craftsmanship: the horizon seems endless, the sky always in motion. Lubezki works with the colours of nature, which are nevertheless reinforced: Its snow looks whiter than in reality, the sky bluer. During the second half he makes the journey increasingly mystical. At this point the film swings, seems aimless and rambling. Surely it is fascinating to experience a man who is unwilling to die. But you could have said it tighter and more effectively. The Revenant is ultimately a classic adventure film, only a showdown is withheld from us. The climax takes place during the first minutes, an erection not recognizable. What about DiCaprio's long overdue Oscar? His performance in The Revenant would have overtaxed less good actors. The absolute will to survive, his concentration - we believe DiCaprio's character will not give up. Unfortunately, the direction allows him less than two facial expressions, as becomes apparent from the 100 (!) minute at the latest. DiCaprio, a superhero who crashes down slopes, sleeps in broken horses cadavers and simply seems immortal. Tom Hardy with rolling eyes, plays a classic villain. What would you sacrifice for revenge? What obstacles would you overcome to get them? The Revenant has the strength to ask these questions, but likes itself too much as a mystical search for meaning.