A World Unseen: The Revenant
A meditation on the making and meaning of Oscar-winning The Revenant, one of 2015’s most astounding cinematic achievements, The Invisible World reveals the spiritual struggles involved in bringing an epic vision to life .
It’s definitely a massive, thought-provoking project. Centered on a real-life 19th-century frontier named Hugh Glass, The Revenant is heavily embellished and is perhaps best known for its extremely grueling filming conditions and wild cast member Leonardo Leonardo DiCaprio. This documentary examines the structure of these elements and more.
Making this film was a daunting task from the start. At the heart of the documentary, director and co-writer Alejandro Inarritu grapples with why he was included. It seems the level of difficulty of the project – filmed in harsh climates in some of the most remote places on Earth – was the key. He wanted to take on an almost impossible challenge, both physically and creatively, and witness the transformation along the way.
That same spirit of exploration and insatiability infects the rest of the cast and crew. Their sacrifice is visible in the very essence of the complete picture. Through candid conversations with DiCaprio, we discover how he uncovered a deeper, more innocent side of himself during filming. Together with Inarritu he manages to find poetry in the indifference of nature and in the hero’s struggle for survival against immense odds.
In addition to the basics of the filmmaking process, the documentary also explains the environmental factors that shape the film. The harsh winter environment sets the emotional temperature of each scene, and the image evolves in direct sync with the challenges it faces. We also get the historical context of each site, and we learn how this history is still evident in the terrain and reflected in the way we view nature today.
With plenty of beautifully filmed behind-the-scenes footage and fascinating insights from artists working across disciplines, Invisible Worlds is an exploration befitting its stunning subject.
Directed by: Eliot Rausch
