Space For Rent
Sunday, February 7, 2016, Magh 25, 1422 BS, Rabius Sani 26, 1437 Hijri


Film Review
Why ?The Revenant? should get another Oscar for I??rritu?
Zaheer Ahmed
Published :Sunday, 7 February, 2016,  Time : 12:00 AM  View Count : 12
Alejandro Gonz?lez I??rritu has done it again in the space of just one year. The Mexican director is sure to be way ahead in the race for Oscars with his sixth masterpiece "The Revenant." Starring Di Caprio this new survival story can set the legacy of previous year's "Birdman" pretty firmly. The movie is set in colonial era of North America and incorporates a number of issues like- faith, hope, nature, redemption, universality and finally but not least importantly the spoils which laid the foundations of United States of America. To relish their criticisms on the present evaluation viewers can take better glimpses as has been provided by Star Cineplex at its theatres in Bashundhara City Shopping Complex, Panthapath, Dhaka since February 5.
The nearly autobiographical sketch has minor alterations with the killing of general Ashley, Fitzgerald and more importantly Glass's Indian boy who according to written documents never existed. All these fellows are members of a fur collecting band. Gravity, The Martian and the like are set in future but Inarritu takes the movie back to the very foundations of America. But Hollywood's latest trend to show that sheer truths of life are found in violent nature rather than in dubious relationships and corporate confusions has reached its peak in "The Revenant" so far at least. Therefore Robinson Crusoe and Lord Jim are revived with more throbbing hearts than before. Many in the east and young westerners may take lessons from the need of emotional and divine attachment that according to this movie has built the mettle of those who shaped the west, though hard may it be to believe looking at present day easy western life-style.
Casting and acting have repeatedly been used to coin the successful marks of "The Revenant." Leonardo seems really intent on bagging his first Oscar this time with his heart rendering facial expressions. Pangs of fear, despair, desperation on one side and thirst for vengeance and outburst of anguish on another have not been portrayed with so much intricacy by Hollywood of late. With all this oppositions and contrasts the Titanic actor takes the level even further by being the father to an Indian boy and immobile husband to an Indian lady who only comes as apparitions. The leader Ashley, Fitzgerald and others suit their roles fairly well according to the needs.
Dicaprio aka Glass is alone against wilderness and antagonistic Indians on his tails. Furthermore he is nearly crippled and dying from a rotten infected body. But none of these surprisingly would make a scholar of "Poetry of Alienation" wonder why there are not feelings of loneliness and want of company anywhere to be found, if the scholar is to watch the movie freely that is to say. This has been achieved by keeping the viewer busy about the desire for revenge Glass quietly bears in his mind and the usual predicaments he faces on his limping journey. But this explanation does not suffice. Rather it can be said that the viewers are subconsciously made to agree with the fact that surviving against such odds is more than what one can ask for and that this has become part of a daily routine for the wanderers. They do wish to quit and sometimes smell their home but in an agreeably nonchalant way.
The movie has also been critically acclaimed for its more than enough realistic outlining of the desolated west. So violent a nature is hard to be found in other western movies. Brutal fields of war from the colonial period and carnage through Indian villages shown in past movies have not lived up to the height of pain I??rritu's movie has shown. The attack of the mother bear is as much equally natural as brutal. She and her surrounding seem little concerned about the gruesomeness she is inflicting much unlike other similar movies.
But the human clashes are not worthy of disregard. Desperate overflow of wrath under confusion renders them with more vivacity than occasional hackings and choppings. Only one legless dying white man does the trick for hundreds of flying limbs that covered the screens in the '300' movies. The more intriguing factor of the battle scenes is the juxtaposition of time and action. As those on retreat scramble to carry the wounded the battle seems to rest for a while at least on their front but actually does not. And the intruding Indians engage in stealing from the dead simultaneously continuing with the fight. All happens with almost dead disinterest making many believe that the clash may have ended. But it actually does not. Then mother-nature is again reminded as the vicious gushes of waterfall and sun-bathed freezing mountains with little more than a dying man floating downstream aptly portrays how merciless peaceful nature can be. The background score adds more to the depiction of objective world where all is fair, by always remaining silent in the grueling scenes. Soft music of pathos can be heard in Glass's lonely journey and the tempo only takes heat in the final chasing scenes.
The question of religion is more principally put forward through the antagonist John Fitzgerald. He repeatedly ponders over the issue in his private conversations. The existence and nobility of "God" are questioned with as much frequency. Fitzgerald claims to be righteous in the eyes of God after committing appalling crimes. And in some cases God portends to aid him on his evil deeds. For example even though he time and again meant trouble Fitzgerald is left with only two juveniles who can stand between him and his desire to get rid of Glass and his urgency to find safe refuge as soon as possible. And sometimes Fitzgerald's logics strike as substantial even for an agnostic. On the other hand it is Glass who receives the most daunting ordeals of life. He is mauled by a grizzly bear, innately connected with his caring but vulnerable Indian son and repeatedly haunted by hostile parties. So he has things to lose that are more valuable than cash and even after losing all physical hardships barely leave him alone. Unable to pave his way strongly through the race for survival of the fittest and unable to die Glass, the more humanly of all his compatriots seem to be the only among them to be deserted by God. Queer enough that though he is plagued by adversaries more than anyone else he manages to survive them miraculously. And after he chooses to strike back, to deny losing hope he even survives skirmishes with Indians and dips below waterfalls and high cliffs with little or no injuries.
Again Glass's peculiar past points out that he may have once or more actively or condescendingly allowed the persecution of local inhabitants of the wild-west.
These again reposit the question whether God is really unjust or has a grander scheme than human mind can possibly comprehend. The decaying race, the Indians, don't lose hope even at the face of a whiteout and on the contrary leaves retribution of white men on God's hands, rather than vying to take fate on their absolute control. This in the end finds an alternate mean for Glass to kill Fitzgerald as he did not have enough rationale for taking revenge on this mischievous agent of God. However the Indian philosophy is also rather ironic if uttered by the white men since they do almost the opposite in their outrageous expeditions carried out in the name of God.
All in all it should be added that it is not the pure depiction of harshness, nor the portrayal of human will to survive against such things that marks the true success of "The Revenant." But it is the feeling that the director consciously or subconsciously is trying to send a message which decrypts that nothing happens without reason and justification.









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