22 years after his first Academy Award nomination in 1994, Leonardo DiCaprio notably ended his Oscar drought with his role as Hugh Glass inThe Revenant.DiCaprio has given other Oscar-worthy performances, but he was always up against stiff competition and never quite managed to get the prize. In survival movieThe Revenant, the hardship he endured while bringing this true story to life almost certainly helped to win him the Oscar, withreviews ofThe Revenantacknowledging the physical endurance it took to play his role.
FilmingThe Revenanttook production drastically over its initial $60 million budget, as director Alejandro G. Iñárritu wanted to shoot the movie both in sequence and in natural light, and withThe Revenant’s filming locationsbeing so remote, cast and crew traveled for most of each day to get there, leaving fewer hours for filming. This exploration of difficult terrain was in the spirit of the Western movie genre, whichThe Revenanthas been compared to, and an even closer comparison could be to one Western which was released in 1971, and for a fraction ofThe Revenant’s budget.
The Revenant Is Basically The Same Story As 1971’s Man In The Wilderness
Both Survival Movies Are Based On The Same True Story
BothThe RevenantandMan In The Wildernesstell the story of a fur trapper who is mauled by a bearand left for dead by his team. He survives and begins a revenge mission through the wilderness. ThoughMan In The Wilderness, which stars Richard Harris (better known now as Dumbledore in the first twoHarry Pottermovies), contains a religious storyline with the central character, Zachary Bass, struggling with his faith, and the two movies end differently, withThe Revenant’s endingshowing Hugh Glass leaving alone, both are based on the same true story.
1971
$2 million
71%
2015
$135 million
R
84%
The true story that inspiredThe Revenantand Man In The Wilderness is that of fur trapper Hugh Glass, whoMan In The Wildernessrenamed Zachary Bass. Glass really was attacked by a bear and abandoned by the men he was traveling with, though it took him two months to recover from his injuries, while both movies imply his recovery took much less time.Glass did venture through the wilderness, but, he was on a mission to take his beloved rifle back, rather than avenge his son’s death, which is a central point inThe Revenant.
The Revenant Sticks Closer To The True Story Of Hugh Glass
The Revenant’s Graphic Bear Attack Scene Is Accurate
Man In The Wildernessis a product of its time, which includes outdated portrayals of Native American characters, and a religious angle that the real-life Glass did not mention, but,Man In The Wildernessdoes not give the impression that it aimed to be a faithful retelling.The Revenantkept many names the same, and the battle scene at the beginning really happened. Though there is no evidence that Glass had a son or a Pawnee wife and little is known aboutwhat happened to Hugh Glass after the bear attack, this scene is confirmed to be frighteningly realistic.
A “revenant” is a person who has returned from the dead (or after a long absence).
The Revenant’s bear attack scenehas been praised for its disturbingly accurate portrayal, even though it was filmed using a combination of a stuntman in a bear suit and CGI, unlikeMan In The Wilderness, which used a real bear and a dummy. Iñárritu watched footage of over 100 bear attacks to ensureThe Revenantlooked as real as possible, and while inMan In The Wilderness, the bear appears to attack over food, inThe Revenant, Glass accidentally got between a mother bear and her cubs, which is more likely to trigger an attack.
The Revenant Is A Better Movie, But Man In The Wilderness Is Still Worth Watching
The Revenant’s R Rating Was Necessary For Its Success
BothThe RevenantandMan In The Wildernessare good movies, but inThe Revenant,DiCaprio’s talent for playing historical figuresand commitment to the role take center stage, and it is hard now to separate the movie from its filming backstory. DiCaprio toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.” Though not historically accurate, the visceral revenge story is the better movie.The Revenantis both beautifully shot and brutal. Still,Man In The Wildernessis a compelling survival story in its own right.
Film Disasters: 10 Things That Went Wrong While Making The Revenant
Filming on location can often cause all sorts of problems, and here are 10 ways in which the production of The Revenant was a complete disaster.
Man In The Wildernesshas a PG rating, which makes sense for a movie that showcases the beauty of the wilderness and respect for the natural world, whileit is hard to imagineThe Revenantwithout its blood, guts and hardship, like the scene in which Glass must sleep inside a horse carcass for warmth.Many survival moviescan work with a lower rating by implying the more painful parts of surviving, but, part of what makesThe Revenantso intense is the combination of violence and beauty, and achieving that to the degree that it did without a R rating wouldn’t have been feasible.
The Revenant
Cast
Inspired by the true events in the life of Hugh Glass, The Revenant is an action-drama movie that sees Leonardo DiCaprio in the starring role. Betrayed and left for dead by one of the members of his hunting group, Glass finds himself contending with some of the harshest elements imaginable while tending to his deadly wounds, as his will to carry on and need for revenge push him to carry on in this gripping tale of survival.
