Savaged

The survival story of Hugh Glass on The Revenant (2015) directed by the 2014 Academy Award winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Offers a new look on Glass’ legendary quest through the American Frontier, after being attacked by a grizzly and left for dead by his company. While the movie covers Hugh Glass’ journey, it also makes a comment on racism and colonialism and even immigration. It is not the first time that Iñarritu talks about serious and sometimes politically charged topics, films such as Babel(20006) and Biutiful(2010) are a clear example of that.

In The Revenant,  Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, is in the middle of two worlds, he is an English speaker American with a Pawnee son. In this period of time and in the context they lived, it was hard to be a mixed raced boy. John Fitzgerald an American member of Glasses’ company is the one who likes to speak his mind about the mixed raced boy and his father, making it uncomfortable for everyone in the company. The words that DiCaprio’s character says to his son are a strong comment on racism: “They don't hear your voice! They just see the color of your face.”

Racism and colonialism are two topics that can be uncomfortable for audiences, that is because, unfortunately, both topics are alive and well. They might have changed in shape or name, but they are still present in today's society.

In the Revenant, the spectator may think at first that the Arikara tribe are the ‘bad guys’ because they take the pelts from the Americans who worked hard to get them. But the reason behind the Arikaras taking those pelts was to trade them for horses and weapons, and with those, find the daughter of one of the Arikara leaders who was kidnapped by a group of white men.

In a not so subtle way the movie addresses the topic of colonialism, one of the most obvious dialogues about this, is when the leader of the Arikara, Elk Dog, is trying to get the French to honor their word, and give them weapons and horses in exchange of the pelts they took from the Americans. Jones, the Frenchman, tells Elk Dog; “Those pelts are stolen” to which Elk Dog replies: “You all have stolen everything from us. Everything! The land. The animals...”

Society today, as refined and civilized as it seems to be, has the same difficulties that it had in 1823.Companies are still trying to get more money by exploiting resources and buying cheap lands from Developing World Countries, employers are still trying to get cheap labor, and of course, we are still discussing immigration. We do live in a better place, our conflicts are not solved by the use of force (most of the time), arrows and rifles have been replaced by meetings and treaties. We now have mass destruction weapons and more powerful rifles, but, we have not yet completely destroyed one another, which is a win.

It is important to point out that The Revenant film is very neutral in the way it portraits the Native and white Americans, they both have their faults but they are both in a quest to save their people. In a more personal way, they are both fighting for their families.

Who is the real Owner of the Land?

The beautiful cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki heightens the fact that, in the end, human beings can’t claim the land as their own. We are not the real owners of the world. The natural beauty of the landscapes and the way they are captured make nature one of the most important characters of the film, and the only one who truly applies justice. In the eyes of Nature, men are all the same, no matter what color they are or what language they speak, they all have to suffer the extreme cold of the mountains and cross the unforgivable rivers.

After almost dying because of his wounds, Glass finds a Native American, they both eat together and  Hikuc, the native, takes care of Glass. In a heartbreaking scene, Glass finds Hikuc hanging from a tree with a sign that reads ‘savage’ but, who is the real savage? Is it the one who helped his fellow men or the one who hung it from a tree?.

All of this combined elements make the film so much more than just a story about revenge and survival, it  talks about our condition as human beings. Hugh Glass’ journey becomes our journey, and just like the protagonist we come to the realization that we have to share the world and leave the higher matters to the Creator.