The Revenant is one of those films that I never tire of seeing again, and that has had a haunting effect on me.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy star in this 2015 film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
It's a story of survival and revenge, but above all it's an immersion into the lives of American trappers and soldiers, as well as the various tribes of Native Americans, in the early 19th century, and into the immense, desolate landscapes of the plains, forests and mountains of a still untamed America.
Immersion in a world where water, forests, ice and snow, wood and rock are omnipresent, along with wild animal life. A harsh, hostile world for the group of hunters and their scout, exposed to attacks from Indians and wild beasts, and to competition between trappers.
The landscapes, filmed in panoramic widescreen with great depth of field (the director of photography is Emmanuel Lubezki), are characters in their own right in the film, whether they be the waves of the Missouri river, forests streaming with water or covered in snow, immense plains surrounded by mountains or roamed by herds of ghostly bison...
Twilight, endless expanses, walking to the end of exhaustion in an attempt to regain the human world, bloodied and breathless bodies, the survival drive exacerbated by the desire for revenge, omnipresent violence and cruelty, dreamlike escapes into the world of the dead and memories, paternity and betrayal, love and murderous rage...
The magnificent soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) plays an essential role: minimalist, atmospheric, alternating between the dreamlike fluidity of ondes Martenot (or equivalent) and the unleashing of tribal percussion (for the final battle scene), between sounds lost in a reverberation as vast as the immense expanse of the landscape, or slow, pared-down melodic sketches, expressive and melancholy, blending strings and electronics.
The Revenant's music is subtly atmospheric, based on a sound design as sophisticated as it is minimalist, and blends perfectly with the film's desolate, twilight landscapes and its unforgettable plot.
Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto offer a magnificent lesson in musical and sound design, and we can only be grateful that Alejandro G. Iñárritu chose their experimental, minimalist proposal for his film.
A true masterpiece...
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