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The Revenant




Well, Bruce and I bit the bullet and walked up to our local movie theater and saw The Revenant.  I was not planning to see it because the previews looked so violent.  Lauren said she doesn't want to see it and my sister, Barbara, also vowed not to see it.  "Too violent" was the consensus from everyone.  Whenever a new movie starts at the Admiral Theater, Bruce wants to walk up there for a movie night.  I debated for a few days, then decided to bite the bullet and go.  After all, it had been nominated for so many awards, I was curious.  So, we walked up to the Admiral, bought our popcorn, got comfortable in our seats and it started.  


 Right away, violent.  I had my eyes covered, looked sideways at Bruce at his reaction.  I'm sorry to say that the previews predetermined that I would not watch violent parts. I hardly saw any of the bear scene...But after the first 45 minutes or so, I started watching it closely.  I loved the cinematography and the sound effects and I was soon immersed into the movie.  It didn't seem long, although it is 2 hours and 36 minutes long.  I eventually decided it wasn't as violent as I thought it would be.  I mean, they didn't show a lot of suffering, the squirming, agonizing-type of suffering, you know, except for Leo, of course, the star of the show.  But somehow, it wasn't hard watching him go through everything.  I mean, movies like Schindler's List were a lot harder to watch.  That is real suffering.  To tell you the truth, I got the feeling that Leo was more like a James Bond in the Arctic. Do you ever feel sorry for James Bond? No.  I knew that he'd survive and walk away and walk away he did.  I mean, really?  It was a little too Hollywoodized. No way would a guy survive what he did.  By the time he rode the horse over the cliff and then...got up unscathed...I mean, really?  I don't think so.  O.K., maybe the tree buffered his fall and the snow cushioned the impact but I thought it was really unlikely.  And again, they didn't show the horse suffering at all.  It died immediately...like Leo should have.   (I can't stand to see animals suffer, either) By the time this scene came along, I thought most of his adventures were pretty fake, thus, no more hiding my eyes.  It just became entertaining. 


 After we walked home, I immediately got on the internet to read about the real Hugh Glass because it is based on a true story; based on a true story.  I suddenly became obsessed about the real Hugh Glass.  He was an actual mountain man who did actually get mauled by a bear who did actually crawl 350 miles to the nearest fort.  Amazing!  But that's about all the movie had in common.  Most of it was Hollywoodized.  The real event happened in August, so what's with the freezing temperatures? At the fort, he appeared to take a hot bath and then the next day he turned around and was right back out there hunting down the bad guy.  It actually took him 3 months to recuperate at the fort but the movie was already pretty long at this point so I understand they had to hurry it up.  The ending is a whole other problem.  I don't want to ruin it for people, but they did seem to speed through it after the first two hours of such detail. 

I will admit, I now want to go back and see it again.  I want to watch the part that I missed the first time because I had my eyes covered.  I'm intrigued with the real story of Hugh Glass.  I wish they would have shown more of how the real guy survived instead of sensationalizing it and making him be an Arctic James Bond.  I want to see the bear scene after reading how they filmed it. (because I had my eyes covered during most of it)  After seeing the movie, I convinced Barbara to go see it and Lauren plans to.  Barbara said she's glad she saw it now.  I would say to people to not let the previews scare you away because the movie is very good.   I predict that Leo will win Best Actor and a lot of other things will win the Oscar so you ought to go see it.  Just be sure to dress warmly because after 2-1/2 hours of a frozen Leo in sub-freezing temperatures and wearing clothes that must be constantly wet with never an opportunity to dry out, you'll want to go out for coffee afterwards, like we did.  Also, a good opportunity to mull over what you just saw.  It's a lot to talk about. 













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