The Revenant

I thought about writing this up last week, but as the movie was nominated for 12 academy awards, I figured it would be better to wait until after last Sunday's award show.  As it turns out, this film has been nominated for 135 awards around the world, and has already won 63 times, including Best Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Actor in a Leading Role at Sunday's Oscar ceremony.  Make no mistake, this is an extremely violent film.  If your stomach isn't up to watching a man being attacked by a Grizzly Bear, or eating a freshly caught fish raw, scales and all, you probably will want to stay at home.  But Director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s work is compelling for those who can sit through the two and a half hour vision of hell.  As a side note,  Iñárritu has now won two Best Director Oscars in a row, having won for Birdman last year. 

The plot, based on Michael Punke’s 2002 novel, can be summarized easily.  Hugh Glass, a trapper in the 1820s, working in what would become Montana forty years later, is mauled by a Grizzly.  His companions are under instruction to watch over him until he recovers or dies, but instead they choose to leave him on his own and save their own selves.  Glass doesn’t die, and fights his way across 200 miles of wilderness to get to a trading post where he vows revenge on his former companions.  Along the way he does what he must to survive, including eating the raw fish I mentioned above.  He also gets swept across a waterfall, which, in the movie, was played by the Kootenai Falls just west of Libby.  The part of Montana in the film was played mostly by Alberta, but other parts of the film were shot in British Columbia, Mexico, Tierra del Fuego Argentina, and the aforementioned Kootenai Falls.  In other words, the people making the movie got around even more than the original Hugh Glass, a part played by Leonardo DiCaprio in an Academy Award winning performance. 

 Kootenai Falls at High WaterPhotograph by the AuthorTaken 4/13/2014

Aside from the Montana setting, a further local connection is that novelist Michael Punke spent time in Missoula where he served as an Adjunct Professor at the University.  Born in Torrington, Wyoming, Punke got his education at Cornell University, and worked with (then) Senator Max Baucus as his international trade counsel.  While in Missoula, President Obama asked him to move to Geneva, Switzerland to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, a post he still holds.  While everyone else connected with the film was in Hollywood last Sunday, Punke was in Nairobi, Kenya negotiating trade agreements.  His position in government service forbids him to talk about his book or the movie made from his book, as that would be seen as a conflict of interest.  Who knew that talking about a novel set in the 1820s could upset delicate trade negotiations.

I, personally, am not a fan of violence on screen, but I am really looking forward to seeing this movie.  As I stated above, if your stomach can take it, by all means come watch the story of Hugh Glass’s survival and revenge.

Upcoming Films at the Llano Theatre (subject to change):

THE REVENANT R
March 4 -6

RISEN PG-13
March 11 - 13
LONDON HAS FALLEN R
March 18 - 20
ZOOTOPIA PG
March 25 - 27 there will be NO matinee on Easter Sunday

In the interest of full disclosure:  I have no connection to the Llano Theatre.  I just appreciate the fact that a small town, Plains, Montana, has a movie house that shows great movies at a reasonable price usually within a month of their first on-screen appearance in the big cities, and I want to make sure that those of us who live in the area continue to enjoy this luxury for a long, long time.