The Revenant is a 2015 American historical drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The screenplay by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith is based in part on Michael Punke’s novel of the same name, inspired by the experiences of frontiersman Hugh Glass in 1823, in what is now Montana and South Dakota. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, and co-stars Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter. The film follows Glass’s quest for revenge after one of his men betrays him, kills his son, and leaves the severely wounded Glass behind.
Development began in August 2001 when producer Akiva Goldsman purchased Punke’s manuscript. Iñárritu signed on to direct in August 2011, and in April 2014, after several delays due to other projects, Iñárritu confirmed that he was beginning work on The Revenant and that DiCaprio would play the lead role. Principal photography began in October 2014; problems with location and crew delayed the film from May to August 2015.
The Revenant premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, on December 16, 2015, and had a limited release on December 25, 2015, followed by a wide release on January 8, 2016. It received positive reviews, mostly for its performances, direction, and cinematography. The Revenant won three Golden Globe Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and at the 88th Academy Awards, Iñárritu, DiCaprio and Emmanuel Lubezki won the awards for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography, respectively. DiCaprio also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actor, and the BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actor.
In 1823, a crew of trappers under the command of Captain Andrew Henry hunts for pelts in the Northern Plains, in unorganized U.S. territory(later the Dakotas). When Arikara Native Americans launch a surprise attack, many trappers are slaughtered. The survivors flee on a boat, but the experienced guide Hugh Glass recommends journeying on foot to their outpost, Fort Kiowa. He claims that staying on the boat is suicide as the Arikara will surely head them off downriver. Recognizing the value of Glass’ experience, Henry orders the crew to abandon ship. The decision to leave the perceived safety of the boat and abandon the few pelts they salvaged bothers some, particularly John Fitzgerald, who is hostile towards Glass and Hawk, Glass’s half-native son. The Arikara continue their pursuit. Capturing the boat downstream, they scalp the two trappers who had remained aboard, defying Henry’s orders.
The escaping hunting party is led by their Captain who knows that they are still being pursued by the Arikara. The party is further slowed down when Hugh Glass, one of the experienced hunters, stumbles on a mother grizzly bear and her cubs while he is separated from the rest of the party. He is badly mauled by the enraged grizzly wildly protecting her cubs. Although Glass eventually gets off a gunshot and kills the bear with his knife he is by then nearly dead himself, and the hunting party can only provide rudimentary medical care. The party takes the wounded Glass with them, but because he is on a makeshift stretcher he slows their march. Finally one of the party, John Fitzgerald, suggests they kill him so they can move faster. The Captain initially tries to kill Glass himself by having Glass’ eyes covered but is unable to shoot Glass. Instead, he offers payment for several men to stay behind with Glass. When a young hunter Jim Bridger and Glass’ son Hawk volunteer, Fitzgerald points out the likelihood that those boys and Glass will be killed - leading the boys to give up their payment and the Captain to up the reward, so much so that Fitzgerald himself volunteers. The Captain makes Fitzgerald promise that he stay with Glass until he dies and to give him a proper burial. Once separated from the main hunting party and alone with Glass, Fitzgerald tries to kill Glass(who is so wounded that he can’t even speak) by smothering him, only to have Hawk stumble upon this murder attempt. A struggle ensues and Fitzgerald kills Hawk. When Bridger returns, he claims he doesn’t know where Hawk is and then makes up a story that he saw men down by the river and they need to abandon Glass for dead.
The Captain and the surviving hunting party are the first to return to their nearly dilapidated barracks outpost, where eventually Fitzgerald and the other young hunter with him return without Glass with them. Fitzgerald pleads an effective yarn to the Captain about how, despite heroic efforts, they could not save Glass or his son from the elements. Fitzgerald receives a cash reward for his fabricated yarn from the unsuspecting Captain. Meanwhile, Glass crawls and struggles to recover and walks through the woods for days. He builds fires and feeds on roots. He is also tracked by hostile Indians, whose chief is looking for his kidnapped daughter. Glass escapes a close encounter with them by floating down rapids. He then encounters a friendly Indian that feeds him raw bison. The two travel for a bit, and the Indian builds Glass a shelter one night during a blizzard. Glass awakes to find the Indian hanged, with a group of hunters camped nearby. Glass rescues an Indian girl that is being raped, which is presumably the kidnapped daughter of the chief following Glass’ trail. Using a horse he stole from the hunters, he again escapes hostile Arikara Indians by jumping off a cliff, which kills the horse and wounds Glass even further. Glass keeps warm for a night inside the body of the dead horse. As the weeks go by, back at the outpost, a desperate lone hunter is found carrying Glass’ canteen. Most believe the hunter stole it from Hawk not far from camp, so they organize a search party and instead find Glass alive. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald decides to flee from the outpost, after first emptying the outpost’s payroll safe to which he has had access, and before Glass can completely discredit Fitzgerald’s false heroic claims made previously to the Captain. Glass requests that the Captain assign him and only him to bring back Fitzgerald dead or alive, and the Captain agrees but goes with Glass. Fitzgerald ambushes the Captain and kills him after Glass leaves him to look for Fitzgerald. Glass returns to find the Captain’s corpse after hearing gunshots. He knows Fitzgerald is close.
Using some branches and Henry’s corpse, Glass manufactures a decoy. Sitting the corpse upon Glass’ horse, Glass lies prone across Henry’s horse and lets the animal wander further into the wilderness. Falling for the ruse, Fitzgerald shoots the fake Glass from a distance. Hurrying from his hiding place to finish the job, Fitzgerald discovers Henry’s scalped corpse. Glass chases him into the woods, and they engage in a bloody fight beside a river. Having lost their guns, the pair use knives and axes, each suffering significant injury. Glass finally gets the upper hand. Spying the Arikara down the river, he pushes Fitzgerald downstream into their waiting hands. The chief, accompanied by Powaqa, pulls Fitzgerald from the river and scalps him. Powaqa recognizes Glass, and the Arikara spare his life. After completing his revenge, an injured Glass retreats into the forest and experiences another flashback of his deceased wife after the death of Fitzgerald by the Arikara.