When the film opens, an indistinct pattern of breathing is the only thing filling the theater. Cryptic images of natural beauty and the protagonist’s late wife are accompanied by the ambiance. The soundtrack does not consist of a grandiose symphony as most beloved films do. Mood is accomplished just as well with silence as it is with vibrant compositions.

Violence is not something this movie lacks. Within the first few minutes, the camera pans along a gruesome ambush of Native Americans onto a pelting camp. Audiences are immediately exposed to several instances of impalement, gunshots, and dismemberment. It makes viewers wonder: “Was the eighteenth century this morbid?”

Hugh Glass and his half indigenous son Hawk get tangled in the confrontation, eventually escaping on a makeshift vessel. The number of men has been reduced tenfold. In movies like this one, it can be like a game sometimes to figure out who is an expendable character. The boat is eventually abandoned by the party for they must trek on land in order to avoid the “Rees”, the Arikara tribe that inhabits the area.

Wilderness films, unless they are documentaries, will always have that gritty mood to them. Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Edge (1997), The Grey (2011)… multitudes of movies take advantage of the brutality of nature. They make nature a character unto itself. It no longer is a setting, but an entity made to go against the protagonist for the entirety of the movie.

The movie’s title “revenant” refers to the return of someone or resurrection. By defying his imminent death, he begins to take his revenge on the hellish antagonist of Nature. John Fitzgerald, the man who left Glass for dead, is a but a shadow in the immensity of this evil that the natural world represents.

With all this horror and super-violence, there are moments of cinematographic bliss. Yes, the colors are for the most part bleak and depressing. When flames or the sun enter the screen, they are cherished a little more. Blood on the snow is not an uncommon sight, yet even that brings about a beauty in contrasting colors. The best movies are the ones that do not make you feel like a mere spectator. Whenever that blood drains onto the new-fallen frost, it feels as if it is draining out of you as well.

Revenge is the prime force within this film. It is as ruthless as the weather; it lives for the next day without regard to the last. While this account of Hugh Glass’ story is altered to Hollywood’s liking, it still delivers the sense of sheer vengeance. The music is unsettling and unorthodox. The filming is chillingly alluring. There will be times where your teeth grit at the sight of so much wrong being done to one man. You will also feel the relief of his achievement of retribution.